


I’ll love you, stranger!

by alexiahayez



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Fluff, I'm new here, Light Angst, M/M, Soulmates, i don't know how to tag, music producer!jihoon, senior dance student!soonyoung
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:00:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 29,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28527369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexiahayez/pseuds/alexiahayez
Summary: In the future, young people get lazier and lazier at finding a partner and focus too much on their “career and work”, leading to higher lonely death rate, higher divorce rate, and lower marriage rate. The Soulmate System was built to fix that issue, consisting of hundreds of computers and AIs working days and nights to calculate the compatibility of everyone on the planet to find out which two people will make the best couple. The soulmates would have a chance to send each other a letter before the designated meeting time. However, there is one rule they have to follow: they could never know the other’s name before the meeting time.
Relationships: Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Comments: 49
Kudos: 86





	1. Hi, stranger!

**Author's Note:**

> TW // A few chapters starting from chapter 6 would describe vaguely a past toxic relationship and slight mentions of manipulative behaviours (though not detailed and not explained).

‘ _Hi, soulmate,_

_I know it’s stupid to write to you this late. I’ll turn 20 next month and I’m not sure I’ll ever find you. I didn’t plan on writing to you at all but I guess I’ll take my chance before I regret it._

_As you already know, I can’t tell you my name. However, I’ll make it up by telling you two things I love the most: Making great music that everyone can listen to and fall in love with, and Hazelnut Coffee with extra creamy foam from the Beanie Cafe at the corner of 6th and 22nd._

_How is that for an introduction? Not all of my friends know the second one._

_So, how are you? Oh my god, it’s so stupid, don’t mind I asked that I just don’t know what to say to you._

_I guess one day in the future I’ll be able to meet you and love you and cherish you. I just pray on all the Gods that this letter does not reach you at the wrong time and that you aren’t dating anyone right now otherwise it would be really awkward haha._

_Oh my god, I should stop rambling._

_Anyways,_

_Since I have never seen your letter to me, I just don’t know if you believe in this entire soulmate mailing thing, because I have my skepticism, too. But here goes nothing!_

_I hope you see my letter soon, and I hope we will see each other in the near future._

_Until then,_

_I’ll love you, stranger!’_

Lee Jihoon stood in front of the mailing box at the Soulmate Office, taking a deep breath in before he gathered the courage to actually put the letter inside. He was only a month away from his 20th birthday, when he was supposed to meet his soulmate according to what the Soulmate Office told his parents when he was younger. He didn’t even plan to write this letter, he never believed in the entire soulmate system and how his entire future with someone could be determined beforehand by a bunch of computers and AIs. Given that those electronic pieces were created to accurately predict the future, it doesn’t mean that they should say who belongs to who since isn’t the entire idea of having a soulmate is that you should meet them, get to know them and slowly fall in love with them? What if he doesn’t like his soulmate? Call him a romanticist but the feeling of longing and not knowing when he will meet his soulmate to falling in love and want to spend the rest of his life with them is what makes soulmate special. Yet, here he was, succumbing to his (and his bestfriend, Mingyu’s) curiosity and decided to send his soulmate letter to whoever he was going to fall in love with. _God, Lee Jihoon, you shouldn’t have done it, what if the reason why they didn’t send you a letter first was because they don’t care about the system, or they love surprises, and now you’ve ruined it._ Jihoon thought to himself on his way back home. _This is a big mistake, dammit._

In the future, young people get lazier and lazier at finding a partner and focus too much on their “career and work”, leading to higher lonely death rate, higher divorce rate and lower marriage rate. The Soulmate System was built to fix that issue, consisting of hundreds of computers and AIs working days and nights to calculate compatibility of everyone on the planet to find out which two people will make the best couple. The soulmates would have a chance to send each other a letter before the designated meeting time. However, there is one rule they have to follow: _they could never know the other’s name before the meeting time._

Kwon Soonyoung was confused. He thought he had received a letter from his soulmate years ago, but now, there was another one landed right into his hand when he was walking to his studio. Did that mean he would have two soulmates?

**[Horangi]**

Hyung, do you think a person can have two soulmates?  
  


**[Cheol]**

No

Not that I know of

What? You got two letters?

Lucky!

**[Horangi]**

No hyung,

I’m screwed

Now which one is my real soulmate?

**[Cheol]**

I don’t know man

But you get to choose!

**[Horangi]**

I’ll visit the Soulmate Office today

Because if there is a mistake they should fix it

I don’t want to choose.

So there he was, in front of the Soulmate Office, in line waiting to report a case. He looked at the stations in front of the line, there was one station for sending letters, one station for complaints towards soulmate choice, one station for complaints of meeting time, etc. But there was none for getting two letters. Soonyoung unconsciously let out a pout, this was not how he expected to spend his free Wednesday afternoon. He’d rather be in the studio working on the showcase for the upcoming Winter Festival. Just when he looked back to see how the line has moved, he caught sight of a Soulmate System Staff walking towards him. 

“Hi, are you Kwon Soonyoung?” - The Soulmate System Staff asked - “If possible, could you kindly please follow me? I believe I know why you are here for.” 

What other choice did he have? Of course Kwon Soonyoung followed the Staff into one of the offices at the back, where all the people sitting in cubicles were wearing formal suits and ties, not just staff uniforms like the people at the front stations. He was taken to a room at the far back of the hallway, where a woman dressed in black suit was talking, no, screaming on the phone, something about messing up the entire system and this could be the end of her career. As she looked up and saw Soonyoung, her anger died down and she did her best to show a friendly smile to hide the frustration that was just there a moment ago. She politely said goodbye to whoever is on the phone and immediately put the phone back to its place. She proceeded to signal for Soonyoung to take a sit.

“Mr. Kwon” - She finally spoke - “I believe you are here because you’ve received one more letter from your soulmate.”

“Wait, how did you know?” - _Stupid Soonyoung, she knows because she works at the Office_. He immediately thought after.

“I should introduce myself first. My name is Haeun, I am a Soulmate System Supervisor at the Seoul’s Soulmate Office.” - She smiled - “One of our staffs mistakenly sent you two soulmate letters, and we know that you have received one years ago. However, this mistake sadly had messed up the entire system, therefore, we have to void one of the letters and calculate a new outcome for you and your soulmate.”

“Does this mean I’m getting a new soulmate?” - Soonyoung asked.

“No honey, as this is a mistake on our part, we are going to let you choose which letter you want to void.” - She continued - “This is where you should use your soulmate sense.”

“Soulmate sense?” - Soonyoung confusingly asked. _What the heck is the soulmate sense?_

“You see, I’ve always been one for the romances. I believe that even though we can calculate the compatibility between two people, they must’ve been destined for each other even before the results are out. No, better put it as: they get the results to be each other’s soulmate because they are already connected as soulmate, by destiny!” - Haeun lowered her head and let out a soft chuckle - “So, your soulmate sense is the connection you feel to your future soulmate. You just have to feel it deep inside you, which letter do you feel more connected to, and make your decision!”

“So what would happen with the voided letter?” - Soonyoung asked, the last thing he wanted was for his decision to affect someone else’s life.

“Nothing would happen! Their profile goes back into the machines and gets calculated again! Simple as that”

“Ca-Can I have a moment?” - Soonyoung asked. Even though his choice wouldn’t affect the other person, there was still a chance he would make the wrong decision, and whoever he chose would not love to be with him because they were destined to be with somebody else. This was not an easy decision that he could just get it over with. 

The entire thing with having a system to pre-determined his soulmate was that he woudn’t have to think about it at all. He has never been a person to be trusted with his decisions. Normally, he would get too hyped up and impulsive, he makes decision on a whim and often, the decision is a bad one. So he was glad to have this system to at least he doesn’t have to think about choosing whoever he is going to grow old with. That is a very crucial decision that not even he trusts himself with. But then, he had to. He had to choose between the letters he received. His decision. He doesn’t trust himself making this decision. But he had to.

Man, this is going to end badly. 

Soonyoung took out his two letters to read them again, for the sake of maybe God is listening to the mess he was in and decides to give him a sign of who his soulmate would be.

_Making great music that everyone can listen to and fall in love with, and Hazelnut Coffee with extra cream foam from the Beanie Cafe at the corner of 6th and 22nd._

Somehow, when Soonyoung reached that line, he felt warm, and fuzzy. He could imagine his soulmate and him sitting and talking about music for hours, while his soulmate gets cream foam stuck on their nose. _That was cute. Maybe whoever wrote this is my soulmate._

And just like that, Soonyoung’s soulmate is the one who loves music and gets cream foam stuck on their nose. Just like that, Soonyoung knew he would spend the rest of his life with that person. 


	2. Hazelnut Coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He hoped he was acting cool enough to impress Woozi, his “expected-to-be” soulmate. There was only one more thing to confirm: if the drink order matched, then he had found his soulmate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, kay, so I know I said slow update but I just had the beginning planned out and some free time so here is the second one.  
> I haven't proof-read this so hmmm, grammar mistakes are everywhere lol. Sorry ;-;

One of the reasons why Soonyoung never trusted his instinct or decision was because he had always been a hyperactive kid with little to no awareness of the consequences of his actions. He said the most random thing at the most random moments, regardless of the atmosphere. His decisions had always been laughed at as well, when he was offered a spot in the National Team for his immense talent in Taekwondo, he turned it down just because he didn’t like to have his hair shaved. People shook their heads at his decisions, his parents looked at him with concerns when he decided to major in Dance instead of a more popular major that could guarantee him a stable job after University. While Soonyoung never cared about what others thought of him, some part of him, in the process of growing up, started to believe in what everyone said about his decision-making ability. 

That was also the reason why he never wanted to entrust himself with the decision about the person he was going to spend the rest of his life with. 

Yet, there he was, again, holding on a letter and handed it to Haeun, the Soulmate System Supervisor. Haeun took the letter from Soonyoung and gave it to her assistant who was waiting right next to her seat. Soonyoung couldn’t stop telling himself that he had made the perfect decision, that nothing was going to happen. However, the doubt he had with himself wasn’t going to die out that easy. 

“Are you sure, Soonyoung?” - Haeun asked again, she could see the hesitation in his eyes when he handed her the letter - “You can still change your decision now if you are unsure. Once the letter goes into the system again, you will not be able to make any changes.”

Soonyoung took a deep breath.  _ No, he is not sure. _ But again, he could never be sure. Might as well let fate has the wheel this time. Maybe for once, he could prove to himself that his instinct was not broken, that he could trust himself. Maybe whoever wrote this letter could be the one best decision of his life.

“I want to be sure” - He finally said after a long time pondering on his choice - “But I could never be sure. I am not an AI, I don’t know about probability.”

“Well, Soonyoung, we can always test the compatibility again…” - Haeun offered, though re-testing could further mess up the system. She wouldn’t offer it on a normal day. However, while Soonyoung was re-reading his two letters, she saw something interesting, interesting enough that she thought Soonyoung should know.

“No.” - Soonyoung said - “I don’t want to go through the process again, I’m already confused enough. I’d only be more confused if the result is different from what I chose. I’ve had a long day I just want to get this over with.”

“Are you sure you want to ‘get it over with’ on choosing your soulmate?” - Haeun asked again.

“As you said, I have to trust my soulmate sense” - Soonyoung said as he stood up and thanked Haeun before leaving with a letter in his hand. 

_ This time, for once, his decision better be right. _

Haeun stood while gazing after Soonyoung for a long time, even after he had left the building. She exhaled as she typed something into the computer in front of her, her lips curved into an enigmatic smile.

[Kwon Soonyoung + __________ = 99.87%]

“Wow” - Haeun’s assistant said after returning from handing the system the other letter - “Almost a hundred percent. This is the highest compatibility rate I’ve ever seen.”

“Me too” - Haeun sighed - “What a pity.”

  
  


Soonyoung crashed into his bed the very moment he got home from the Office. He had never felt so torn, and while there was this urge inside of him that was telling him to choose the person who was into making music and Hazelnut coffee, his years of doubting himself couldn’t leave him alone. He kept hearing the voices in his head screaming that this one was another bad decision and he would regret it later. Just when he was going to drift into a deep afternoon slumber, his phone’s notification buzzed loudly, it was Seungcheol, his Danceology 101’s Teacher Assistant, also his best friend.

“Soonyoung, you really need to send in a song for the Winter Festival Performance, otherwise I’ll have to cross your name off the list.” - Seungcheol didn’t even wait for him to say Hello.

“Hello to you, too, Cheol! I haven’t thought of anything.” - He sighed - “I just got back from the Soulmate Office.”

“Oh, how did that go?”

“I had to choose between the two senders” - Soonyoung inhaled, he waited for Seungcheol to laugh at the paradoxical idea of Soonyoung and making decisions being in the same sentence. 

And Seungcheol didn’t fail him. He could see the older shaking with laughter on the other side of the line. 

“Kwon Soonyoung you sure you made the right decision?” - Seungcheol was clearly wiping the tears on his eyes from laughing too much - “You can’t even choose a song for me now.”

“Shut up you know I’m a chaos when it comes to choosing” - Soonyoung tried to sound irritated but he couldn’t, he knew Seungcheol was right about him - “Recommend me a song and I’ll see.”

“Fine” - Seungcheol sighed, finally stopped chuckling - “I know this really cool new producer from my company. He’s about the same age as you and he makes good music. I’ll send you his SNS and you can see for yourself.”

“Kay” - Soonyoung said half-heartedly - “I’ll check hyung. Thanks.”

“Get back to me before Sunday!” - Seungcheol managed to yell through the phone before Soonyoung hung up. 

Soonyoung woke up with a bunch of new messages from Seungcheol. It took him a while to finally reached the beginning of the texts, which was a message with a link to the young producer’s SNS like Seungcheol said. The rest of the texts were just Seungcheol yelling at him because he didn’t say thank you fast enough and how he then owed Seungcheol a meal for introducing him to such a talented young fellow. Soonyoung rolled his eyes, scrolled through his gallery to find a perfect Thank You meme and sent it to Seungcheol. He wasted no time clicking on the link to the young producer’s social media. 

WOOZI.

@wooziuniversefactory 

_ My vision: Making great music that everyone can listen to and fall in love with. _

_ Making great music that everyone can listen to and fall in love with. _

_ Making great music that everyone can listen to and fall in love with. _

Soonyoung kept staring at the bio on the young producer’s Instagram. Isn’t that what was written in his letter from his soulmate? This could be a coincidence, right? Something in Soonyoung stirred. He never felt such endearment towards just a bio line on someone’s Instagram. Something in Soonyoung was yelling that he had found his soulmate. Yet, there was also something in him that convinced him that this was just a mere coincidence and he shouldn’t hope too much.

Anyway, the producer’s music was really not bad. No, not not bad, his music was brilliant. The level of artistry and sophistication. The depth of his lyrics and the emotion he had in his songs. Soonyoung could choreograph the entire album and he wouldn’t feel tired. If the guy was really his soulmate, man, he must be the luckiest person in this world. Finally, for once, Soonyoung could see that his decision was the right one. 

**[Horangi]**

Hyung

Could you score me an appointment with Woozi?

I want to talk to him about using his music

**[Cheol]**

Uhhh

It’s just for a school’s performance, Soon

You don’t have to ask for permission

**[Horangi]**

No

I should

**[Cheol]**

You never cared?

You didn’t even ask Vernon for using his rap for your Lit course

**[Horangi]**

That was different

I want to meet w Woozi

Can you please?

**[Cheol]**

Well, 

You can come directly to Beanie Cafe 

At the corner of 6th and 22nd

Woozi’s always there from 3 to 6pm.

_ Beanie Cafe.  _

Soonyoung jumped at the name. Oh god, oh god, it was Woozi. Woozi was his soulmate. Woozi should be his soulmate. Everything was lining up then. Oh god.

**[Cheol]**

I’ll give him a head-up

He hates strangers tho so make sure you say you’re my junior.

Jihoon tapped on the table’s surface.  _ Why the hell did Choi Seungcheol tell me to meet this kid in his class?  _ He should be working on his new music, but then he couldn’t focus because he kept expecting a certain “handsome but obsessed with tiger dance student” that Seungcheol said was interested in his music and wanted to discuss permission to use it for one of his performances. He had people using his music for school performances all the time, he never cared about that as long as it wasn’t for commercial purposes, so why was this one so persistent in meeting him?

“Woozi?” - He heard someone called his name. A young man with a tiger-patterned jacket was walking towards him.  _ Well, obsession with tigers is an understatement.  _ Tiger phone case and tiger scarf as well, Jihoon tried his best not to burst out laughing on the spot. 

“Yes” - Jihoon answered - “You must be Seungcheol’s junior. I’m Woozi.”

“I know” - Soonyoung took off his jacket only to reveal a tiger-patterned T-shirt inside. Jihoon swallowed a laugh that was coming out of his throat - “My name is Hoshi”

“Hoshi?” - Jihoon repeated - “Mustn’t be your real name.”

“Yes” - Soonyoung answered - “It’s my stage name. But you are not exactly telling me your real name, either.”

_ Interesting kid. _

“You’re right” - Jihoon chuckled - “So I guess we’ll have to call each other’s stage names, then.”

Soonyoung didn’t answer. He waved the waiter over. He hoped he was acting cool enough to impress Woozi, his “expected-to-be” soulmate. There was only one more thing to confirm: if the drink order matched, then he had found his soulmate.

“Can I have an Ice Americano please?” - Soonyoung placed his order and turned to Woozi - “What about you?”

“Hazelnut Coffee” - Soonyoung heart jumped as the person sitting across him placed his order. But Jihoon continued - “No cream foam please.”


	3. Not a wrong decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just as Soonyoung left the cafe after realizing that he was late for his Asian Arts class, Mingyu, the tall barista, walked over with a warm cup of Hazelnut coffee, this time with cream foam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kay this is my last update before I'm officially going MIA due to deadline week.  
> Not beta-ed or proof-read, grammar mistakes are expected.  
> It's shorter than normal because I've only written up until here, but then I think the cliffhanger (or semi-cliffhanger) could be intriguing so I'll leave it like this.

“No cream foam?” - Soonyoung asked, only to be glared at by Jihoon. 

“No, I hate cream foam” - Jihoon finally spoke - “They often stick to my nose and sometimes my glasses if I was wearing one. Annoying at best.” 

It took Soonyoung all of his will power to not let out a disappointed sigh. Well, there went the last confirmation. Maybe it was all just a coincidence, everything up until now. That made sense. Woozi’s lyrics in his songs were really deep and sophisticated while the one who wrote him the letter was really clumsy with words. If Woozi was really his soulmate, he would’ve gotten a long letter with poetic words like a beautiful love song. He should’ve guessed that instead of getting his hope too high.

“Anyways, you’re here to discuss using my music?” - Jihoon snapped Soonyoung out of his train of thoughts. 

Soonyoung tried his best to swallow his disappointment back inside. Woozi hadn’t done anything wrong, he never hurt him or lied to him, he just wasn’t his soulmate. It was alright. 

“Yes” - Soonyoung finally spoke - “I was thinking of using your song, Crazy in Love, to perform at my school’s Winter Festival.” - Soonyoung paused, wondering if he should continue.

“Well, then do it. It’s not like I’m so petty I wouldn’t let young kids performing my songs” 

“First of all, I’m not a kid, I’m around your age” - Soonyoung defended - “And second, I would like to ask if you can rearrange your song to fit my style… my vibe, to be exact.”

“Are you kidding me?” - Jihoon looked like he was going to snap. No one, ever, asked him to rearrange his songs because his songs were always perfect the way he made it and no one, ever, dared to ask him to rearrange his songs only to fit someone else’s style. Someone else should find a song that fit their style instead of asking him to customize his style into their styles. Jihoon was really close to standing up and just leave the room.

Soonyoung knew it. Coming to meet Woozi was a mistake. Another wrong decision by Kwon Soonyoung. Now not only he found out Woozi was not his soulmate he also managed to piss off one of the most promising producers in the current industry. Of all the time his decision landed him the bad place, this time was the worst. However, if there was one song Soonyoung wanted to dance to, it was Woozi’s song. Even if Soonyoung’s decisions were always wrong, he prided himself in being persistent with his choices until the end. Just like he was following through with being a Dance Major, he would follow through with convincing Woozi.

“No, listen” - Soonyoung tried to explain himself - “It’s not that I think your songs are bad, no, I love them. I’m just saying, I want you to help me rearrange the song into my vibe.” - Jihoon still looked pissed, well, yea, since Soonyoung did not explain himself but instead just repeated what he had said.  _ Goddamit, Soonyoung _ . He thought to himself. 

Soonyoung knew there was nothing else he could do to explain what he was trying to ask for from Woozi, and Woozi was fidgeting on his seat looking more and more annoyed by each second. Soonyoung stopped talking for a bit and suddenly reached into his pocket and took out his phone. He scrolled his gallery down to his newest [ dance cover video ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTeSwbe_4-g) and showed Woozi, hoping that Woozi could see his style, his vibe and understand what he was saying about rearranging Woozi’s song. 

Jihoon was not going to lie Hoshi looked amazing. The way he moved, the way he hit the beat everytime, everything was so planned out and precise Jihoon was sure the guy was a professional and not just some University student. Jihoon was also quick to pick up on his style, a lot of isolation, a lot of moments where he just went  _ snap, snap, snap _ after dancing calmly for a while. Maybe Jihoon did know what his vibe was, and maybe Jihoon had the perfect idea for this guy. 

“I’ll tell you what” - Jihoon finally spoke after he finished watching Soonyoung’s video - “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll give you a song, a completely new one I make for you and your vibe, only if you promise you’ll win that Festival of yours.”

Soonyoung’s jaw dropped. He had to re-circuit his brain twice before he could make sense of what Woozi was saying. Woozi just offered to make him a song, a song of his own, and all he had to do was to win the Festival, which was his original plan anyway. 

“You’re kidding.” - Soonyoung blurted out.

“You just got offered a song by one of the most sought after producers in the country” - Jihoon’s expression went back to being really annoyed - “And the first thing you said is that I was kidding?”

“No, I’m sorry” - Soonyoung immediately stood up and gave Woozi a 90-degree bow - “I’m really really really sorry.”

“You should be saying ‘Thank You’ instead of ‘Sorry’, Hoshi” - Jihoon chuckled but then it turned into a full smile.  _ God, he is so cute. He is so cute.  _ Jihoon thought to himself, but it was only for a mere second before he reminded himself that he would be meeting his soulmate in less than four weeks. He shouldn’t find another guy cute. 

“Thank you” - Soonyoung once again gave Jihoon a 90-degree bow and didn’t fail to lure out another smile from Jihoon - “How can I ever repay you?”

“Listen” - Jihoon said, gesturing Soonyoung to sit down - “I’m doing this for myself as well. I need a new song for my upcoming mini album, and I just find that your vibe could be a new challenge for me. As for repayment, you can just film a video of your dance and let me post it on my YouTube for song promotion.”

“I can do that” - Soonyoung almost sounded like he was screaming. He was really excited. The disappointment from earlier was soon forgotten, he was on cloud nine right now.

“Then, I’ll see you here next week for further discussion” - Jihoon said as he walked over the counter to get their drinks. He stood there and chatted with the tall barista for a while, who was looking irritatedly at Soonyoung ever since he walked in. 

Soonyoung didn’t know what they talked about but Woozi seemed close with the barista, they even looked towards him for a while, and when Woozi returned, he could see that the barista no longer looked at him irritatedly.

“That was Mingyu, he was worried because you looked like you were annoying me” - Jihoon said as soon as he sat down, handing Soonyoung his Americano - “And I must admit, you did at the beginning.”

“Anyways” - Jihoon continued - “I’m only doing this because I find your vibe interesting and that you are a dear junior to my childhood best friend, Seungcheol. I’ll be meeting my soulmate in less than four weeks so I don’t want you to get any idea…” 

_ Dammit, Jihoon, you are the one who was having ideas towards him.  _ Jihoon’s inner conscience was screaming.

“Yea, no, I get it. I’ll be meeting my soulmate in less than four weeks, too” - Soonyoung said - “It’ll be fun if we can finish the song and the dance and show it to both of our soulmates”

“That is actually not a bad idea” - Jihoon finally laughed out loud. This was totally out-of-character for him, to be so comfortable being with someone he just met. Yet, there was something about Soonyoung’s way of communication that made him felt so much more like a long-time friend with him rather than a stranger. 

They talked for another while, mostly about music. Jihoon was actually surprised to learn that Soonyoung was interested in producing music, too, and he promised that he would teach Soonyoung someday if only Soonyoung teach him how to do the isolate move that smooth. Soonyoung laughed out loud at the request and immediately stood up to do an isolation move in the middle of the coffee shop, making Jihoon almost screamed with embarrassment. They had a good time talking together, or at least that was what Jihoon felt. 

And for Soonyoung, he was glad his decision was not a wrong one after all.

Just as Soonyoung left the cafe after realizing that he was late for his Asian Arts class, Mingyu, the tall barista, walked over with a warm cup of Hazelnut coffee, this time with cream foam.

“Urgh Mingyu, you’re the best. Hazelnut coffee is nothing without cream foam.” - Jihoon said, bringing the cup up and took a big sip, having foam stuck on the tip of his nose right after. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll return after January 20th  
> And I have nothing planned out after this so the later parts would take a while, but don't worry I'm not dropping this!  
> Thank you so much for reading


	4. You moved on?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You need to stop making sad songs, Jihoon” - Seungcheol said - “Not that your sad songs are bad, but you are drawing inspiration from a negative source, and I’d hate to see you like that.”

Jihoon had never believed in the soulmate system. He was a lonely kid growing up in a family of fame. His dad was a famous music producer, just like him right now, and his mom was a famous singer, a diva for her time. It took them both a long time to finally have Jihoon, and he had been raised to be a “producing genius” to follow in the family’s path. He was home-schooled until High school, and it took a lot of convincing for his dad to agree to let him go to a public school, with one condition that his childhood best friend, Seungcheol, would have to accompany him. That was why Jihoon never felt like there was someone who could fully understand him, not even Seungcheol, and the concept of having someone out there who would understand him, a perfect match to him, yet they had never met, was very foreign to Jihoon. 

Jihoon’s bad experiences when it came to dating only declined his trust in the concept of having a soulmate. When he was sixteen, he learned that his first boyfriend only wanted to date him because he needed the appearance on news outlets to improve his brand ranking to get a role in a new movie. When he was nineteen, his then-boyfriend used him to create a fake dating rumor so that he could earn the title “ex-boyfriend who got heartbroken by the Crown Prince of the Lee family” as a marketing strategy for his new ballad single. So yes, nothing ever good came from Jihoon’s relationships. Seungcheol understood that, which was why he offered to be Jihoon’s personal guard, and Jihoon appreciatively refused. 

The only thing that Jihoon appreciated from his past relationships was that it gave him a lot of inspiration to write his songs. After his last relationship, he had locked himself in the studio every day except for Fridays, which were the time that his friend group hosted their “unwind nights” where they just ordered take-out and watched new movies on Netflix. Sometimes alcohol was involved, but never too much. Jihoon appreciated what his friend was trying to do, but he always felt like there was a void in his soul that needed his soulmate to come and fill it up. He longed for someone who could truly understand him and made him feel like he could be himself. That was why he was convinced by Mingyu to go send his soulmate a letter because he felt like maybe he should trust the machines for once, as his own feelings failed him again and again.

“You ok there, Jihoonie?” - Seungcheol came up from behind Jihoon, who was intensely staring at the screen of his computer. Seungcheol was the only one who got the keys to his studio, and he only agreed to give Seungcheol a spare after he almost passed out from overworking for a week straight with no sleep after he found out his previous boyfriend was only using him as a marketing tool.

“Yea, I’m good.” - Jihoon sighed - “Take a listen to this one though, Cheol. I just can’t shake the feeling that it’s a bit… empty.”

“I Don’t Miss You?” - Seungcheol read the name on the file and frowned - “Don’t tell me it’s another song about him?”

“Well…” - Jihoon flustered as he got caught by Seungcheol again - “He did leave a lot of writing materials.”

“Jihoon” - Seungcheol frowned at him - “You know it’s unhealthy to over-use your past relationships for songwriting. You’ll never be able to get over him if you keep doing this.”

“Doing what? I’m not doing anything” - Jihoon said innocently, or at least he thought it was innocent-sounding.

“You are forcing yourself to relive the night when you found out he used you so that you can have the inspiration to write this song, that’s what you did.” - Seungcheol looked a little bit angry - “This is unhealthy Jihoonie.”

Jihoon couldn’t even look straight at Seungcheol. He knew what Seungcheol said was true. He had been reliving that night over and over again, forcing himself to go through a heartbreak to write this song. It had been taking a toll on him, bringing his mood down and urging him to cry a few times. 

“You need to stop making sad songs, Jihoon” - Seungcheol said - “Not that your sad songs are bad, but you are drawing inspiration from a negative source, and I’d hate to see you like that.”

“Fine” - Jihoon used this opportunity to stop Seungcheol nagging - “I just agreed that I’ll make a song for your junior, Hoshi. He got good vibes, and he gave me a new idea for a dance song.”

“Yes, finally you should get inspiration from someone else!” - Seungcheol finally relaxed his frown. He still agreed to help Jihoon figure out what was missing in his new song - “And no more sad songs.”

“I promise Cheol, no more sad songs.” - Jihoon paused, then added - “Until my next album.”  
  


Seungcheol was about to say something but decided against it. Until the next album was good, at least maybe Jihoon’d meet his soulmate before that. 

\-- 

**[Hoshi]**

Woozi

Can we meet? 

I have some ideas.

**[Woozi]**

Sure

Beanie in 15

_Hoshi got his[hair permed](https://twitter.com/svtszone/status/1350562427377758209?s=20). _ That was the first thing that came to Jihoon’s mind when he saw Soonyoung opening the cafe shop’s door. He dyed it a bit blacker, and he got it permed. _He looks good._

“Why are you staring?” - Soonyoung finally spoke up and got Jihoon startled. Jihoon didn’t realize he was staring at Soonyoung, and he even thought Soonyoung looked amazing.

“I am not staring” - Jihoon flustered and tried to deny - “I was just thinking.”

“Right” - Soonyoung smiled and reached out to pull his chair. 

“You changed your hairstyle” - Jihoon muttered under his breath, but Soonyoung seemed to have caught that as he smiled brightly at Jihoon.

“Yeah, I got a darker shade of black and perm it a bit” - Soonyoung raised his hand to play with the permed lock of his hair - “I switched it up for the gig I landed this weekend at The 1996”

“You’re performing at The 1996?” - Jihoon’s eyes widened, he knew the place. It used to be Seungcheol and his favorite weekend pub. Jihoon played there sometimes, and Seungcheol used to rap with his Hip-hop team there, but they stopped. All because Jihoon used to go there with _him_ , too. After the incident, Seungcheol agreed that they should stop coming to the place to avoid meeting the guy, and he moved his Hip-hop team to another pub, smaller crowd, smaller pay, but it was more comfortable for Jihoon. 

“Yeah” - Soonyoung smiled brightly, his lips hadn’t stopped curling ever since he walked in. _He must be in a really good mood today._ \- “They’re hosting a special Gatsby night, and I was casted to be one of the supporting dancers for the masquerade ball.”

“I know the place” - Jihoon commented - “They pay really well, so congrats!”

“Yeah, I didn’t notice the pay rate” - Soonyoung said, but then he stood up and before Jihoon knew it, Soonyoung was returning with two drinks in his hand - “I met Seungcheol earlier and he warned me not to let you touch any caffeine for today since you already knocked two large espressos this morning, so I took the liberty of ordering you something else.”

Jihoon stared at the drink in front of him, a strawberry-colored syrup with milk and foam. Well, at least he had his foams.

“Strawberry milk?” - Jihoon asked, sounding a bit offended.

“Yeah, but it’s Mingyu’s famous strawberry milk” - Soonyoung said, reaching out for his coffee only to have it snatched away by Jihoon.

“Well, then you drink it.” - Jihoon said, holding tightly to Soonyoung’s latte - “I’m not drinking that. Tell Seungcheol that I am fine with my daily caffeine intake.”

Soonyoung’s eyes widened as he could only stare at Jihoon juggling down his latte. That day’s Woozi was completely different from the cold and distant Woozi he saw a couple of days before. This one was more… adorable. 

“Now it’s you who’s staring” - Jihoon broke Soonyoung’s thought bubble.

“You seem happier today, Woozi” - Soonyoung commented, breaking the smile on the other’s face - “Did something good happen?”

_“I think I know what happened with I Don’t Miss You.” - Seungcheol said after listening to the song for the sixth time - “You don’t sound sad, at least, not as sad as those old songs you wrote for him.”_

_Jihoon cocked his head. He was sad, he was devastated, he thought he translated those feelings into the song pretty well. He almost cried himself to sleep writing the first verse of the song. However, Seungcheol kept on insisting that he couldn’t hear the same pain in the song anymore._

_“Wow, maybe I was wrong.” - Seungcheol sighed - “Maybe you moved on?”_

“Nothing” - Jihoon answered Soonyoung’s question - “I just had a good sleep last night, so I guess I’m in a really good mood.”

“That’s good” - Soonyoung laughed - “A good sleep always makes you feel better.” - He paused before continuing - “I was hoping I could talk to you about the song, I don’t know much about music, but I was thinking it could go like this…” 

Soonyoung’s “like this” was a series of incoherent noises. He expressed the beat he wanted with loud _toong, toong, toongs_ and _jak, jak, jaks_ that took Jihoon a lot of patience to not just stop him right there before he embarrassed himself and chased away all the customers. However, Jihoon was impressed by Soonyoung’s sound perceptivity. He knew that Soonyoung was a dancer, he just didn’t think that someone could make random noises sound so close to being a real beat like Soonyoung was doing right now. 

“And then it starts with a lot of gunshots” - Soonyoung finally put an end to his series of noises and looked at Jihoon expectedly.

“It starts… with a lot of gunshots?” - Jihoon repeated the random request (or maybe suggestion?) from the one in front of him.

“Yea, gunshots” - Soonyoung continued, this time more deflated. He must have thought Jihoon didn’t understand him, or that he made a fool of himself trying to talk to a music producer about music without actually knowing how to read a single note - “Maybe go for something aggressive. I don’t know, I can’t really speak music…”

It was then Jihoon suddenly stood up, he walked to the counter and brought back an empty plastic cup. Jihoon didn’t even say a word to Soonyoung, which got Soonyoung worried again that he might have offended the great Woozi with his horrible “noises” and a sudden requirement on how he should produce his song.

“Well, are you coming or not?” - Jihoon asked after he finished transferring the untouched strawberry milk over to the empty plastic cup for take-away.

“Coming where?” - Soonyoung raised his eyebrows, confused at Jihoon's sudden change in attitude.

“To my studio, of course. Where else are we going to make music?” - Jihoon answered as he grabbed his bag and dashed out of the cafe, Soonyoung immediately collected his thoughts and ran after Jihoon, scared that he might lose Jihoon if he didn’t hurry.

**[Mangoo]**

Cheol, you are not going to believe this

Jihoon actually asked your junior to come to his studio

And they’ve only met twice

He left in his “working mode” 

**[Cheol]**

Wow

Maybe I was right

He did move on.

**[Mangoo]**

Should I be worried?

I mean after what happened last time

**[Cheol]**

I know Soonyoung

He’s not a bad kid

If anything, I’ll run right over

Keep working kid

We wouldn’t want Jisoo to come back seeing you neglecting your guests


	5. Musical Soulmates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I know…” - Soonyoung said - “But it’s amazing how you could make a song exactly my style the very night you met me. It’s like…” - Soonyoung paused before he exclaimed - “It’s like we’re musical soulmates!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, not beta-ed ;-; But I loved this chapter best of all the ones I've written so far =))  
> It's fun to see them pushing and pulling, I live for this dynamic :D

Jihoon quickly opened the door to his studio, and it was an understatement to say that Soonyoung was mesmerized by the room the moment he got a full view of it. No, he was completely in awe. The room was huge enough to be his living room, with blue neon light covering the place bringing a cozy feeling to him and Woozi’s entire sound system was what Soonyoung could have seen only in movies. Jihoon seemed oblivious to Soonyoung’s amazement though, as the first thing he did when the door flung open was to quickly remove his coat, set down his bag next to the computer desk, and put on his headphones, completely emerging into the sound blasting from the earmuffs. Soonyoung stood at the door as he didn’t know if he was welcomed in the room or not, having heard nothing from Jihoon since they left Beanie Cafe. 

Jihoon stared at his computer screen for a long while, the sound of keyboard tapping and mouse clicking filled the room, ignoring an awkward Soonyoung who could only assume that he could sit on the sofa, though he only dared to make himself sit at the furthest left side of it. Soonyoung took out his phone, should he call his friend to pick him up? He felt like he had no business being at Woozi’s studio. 

“Okay” - After what seemed to be the longest three minutes of Soonyoung’s life, Jihoon finally spoke, removing his headphone - “Hoshi, come here.” 

Soonyoung could only comply. He set his phone down on the sofa, stood up, and walked toward Jihoon, minding himself to not touch anything on the tables and floor. Woozi was still typing frantically on his keyboard, and when Soonyoung finally reached where Woozi was, he was immediately pushed down to the chair in front of the computer. Woozi unplugged his headphone jack and turned on the speaker system. 

The song blasting out of Woozi’s speaker was something new to Soonyoung. It was energetic, a little bit cocky, and very strong. Soonyoung couldn’t explain it with the correct musical terms, but he felt that way when he first heard the beats. Moreover, it was exactly what Soonyoung was trying to describe to Woozi a few moments ago in the cafe. It was like somehow Woozi could crawl into his mind and take out whatever he was thinking to compose it into a song. No wonder why he was the genius composer of this generation.

“Did you… get all that from what I said earlier?” - Soonyoung finally finished listening to the song, and the question slipped right through his tongue. 

Woozi let out a soft chuckle.

“I don’t know what they said about me” - He laughed - “But I cannot compose a song that fast, Hoshi.” - He stopped to study the amazed-facial expression of Hoshi before continuing - “I made this song the very night I came back from meeting you the first time. I don’t know, it just came at that moment, and I just wanted to make it. I felt like if I didn’t make this song then, I’d never make it, so I did. But I was feeling like it was lacking something, so I never meant to give it to you anyways.”

“So why did you let me listen to it now?” - Soonyoung asked, still in awe because even though Woozi didn’t make it in three minutes as he thought, it was still amazing that he could just make a song because he felt like it.

“Because when you mentioned the gunshots at the beginning, I felt like that was what was missing.” - Woozi said casually - “So I added the gunshots at the beginning, did you not hear it?”

“No I heard it” - Soonyoung said - “That was why I was surprised, I thought you just made the song according to what I said… Because it was exactly what I was trying to explain earlier.” 

“Again, I am not a magician” - Woozi said, stifling a laugh.

  
“I know…” - Soonyoung said - “But it’s amazing how you could make a song exactly my style the very night you met me. It’s like…” - Soonyoung paused before he exclaimed - “It’s like we’re musical soulmates!”  
  


The atmosphere suddenly got heavy as Soonyoung noticed a shift on Woozi’s face. Yet, Woozi didn’t let him have a chance to overthink whether or not he said the wrong thing because only a second later he burst out laughing.

“Musical soulmates?” - Woozi repeated, still laughing as if that was the most interesting he had heard.

“Yeah, like we match on a musical-spiritual level” - Soonyoung tried to explain - “It’s just I believe in those things a lot”

“What things?” - Woozi asked - “Soulmates?”

“Yeah, I believe in soulmates” - Soonyoung replied as he stood up from Woozi’s chair and moved to the sofa, this time more comfortable.

“I don’t” - Woozi sat down on his seat but turned to Soonyoung to continue the conversation - “However I did send out my letter, so I guess it’s wrong to say I don’t believe in soulmates”

“Why don’t you believe in soulmates though?” - Soonyoung asked, raising his phone which he had already opened an ordering app as if he was asking if Jihoon wanted to order something to drink.

“I just don’t feel like anyone could understand me” - Jihoon shook his head, pointing at the cup of strawberry milk on the desk that he brought back from Beanie earlier, but gestured Soonyoung to order if he wanted - “I had always been a preserved kid, I am still one now. The idea of having someone who can reach me even though we have never met is unrealistic to me. Also, bad experiences with dating people.”

“Ah” - Soonyoung let out a sound of understanding - “For me, I’ve always been someone who is bad at choosing. I pick the weirdest choices, as my mom said. I chose not to pursue Taekwondo even though I was offered a position on the National team because I didn’t want to shave my head” - Soonyoung noticed that Woozi let out a snicker - “I know, bad choice, everyone said so. But I just felt like that at that moment. So I don’t think I could trust myself when it comes to choosing my soulmate.”

“Wow” - Jihoon said - “Did you send your letter, though?”

“I didn’t” - Soonyoung sighed - “But I received two.” - Jihoon’s eyes widened as Soonyoung nodded sadly - “And I had to choose.”

“Man… How did you know which one to choose?” - Jihoon asked, interested in this story. _It could be my next song inspiration._

“I felt like it.” - Soonyoung shrugged - “I felt more connected to the letter from the musician who wanted to make great music so that everyone could enjoy it.”

“Your future soulmate is a musician?” - Jihoon smiled as he joked - “Then don’t go calling me your musical soulmate, Hoshi. Your future musician lover could be jealous.”

“Haha” - Soonyoung jokingly let out an unamused laugh - “Funny thing is, since your SNS bio was so similar to what was written in the letter, I almost thought that you were my soulmate in the beginning, Woozi.”

It was Jihoon’s turn to let out an unamused laugh. 

“Well” - Jihoon said - “Even from the way we think about soulmates, I could tell that we’re very different.” 

“I know!” - Soonyoung burst out laughing from Woozi’s expression - “How could my soulmate don’t believe in soulmates? Also, the writing in the letter was very clumsy, while your lyrics are really nice and sentimental. Completely two different people.”

Jihoon laughed and it extracted a laugh from Soonyoung, too. Somehow, their conversation flow was really natural, as if they were friends for a long time. 

“So, when would you meet your soulmate?” - The topic came up after a long while of them discussing their soulmates and their expectations of them.

“My birthday, November 22nd, exactly a month from now” - Jihoon said then asked - “When is yours?”

“My birthday or my designated meeting time?” - Soonyoung smiled - “My birthday is June 15th, and my designated meeting time is November 23rd. One day after yours.”

“Wow” - Jihoon smiled - “Lucky for us, we’ll come out of my birthday party both no longer single” 

“Your birthday party?” - Soonyoung asked again, surprised. He had heard about Woozi’s birthday parties, the Crown Prince of the Lee Family’s parties are always the talk of the town, many celebrities will be there, and it is always super luxurious from what he saw from the newspaper the next morning - “Am I invited?”

“Hoshi, you get to be invited to my studio after our second meeting, even my friends don’t get that privilege” - Jihoon laughed at the surprised expression on Soonyoung’s face - “You’re coming to my birthday party!”

“The Woozi Lee’s birthday party?” - Soonyoung asked again, he couldn’t believe his luck. First, he got Woozi to write him a song, for him! Then he got invited to a celebrity’s birthday party?

Jihoon could only laugh at how Soonyoung was processing the news. He always hated how people react to him and his position in society as if he was some kind of royalty or untouchable God, however, he took pride in making Soonyoung flustered and confused. Soonyoung looked like a lost hamster with his face all red and his eyes looking around because he didn’t know if he could look at Woozi’s face without bursting out screaming.

“Yes” - Jihoon answered.

“Please come to my show at The 1996” - Soonyoung said unexpectedly - “You invited me to your birthday party, I want to repay you. Please come, drinks are on me since I’m working so I’ll get special prices. Not that you care about prices, you make millions with your songs, but I want to do something for you and this is the only thing I could think of. I should offer you a special show, oh no, that sounds wrong, I am not a stripper…”

“Hoshi!” - Woozi finally cut him off - “You’re babbling.”

“Yea…” - Soonyoung finally snapped out of it and stopped talking - “I tend to do that when I’m excited… Sorry.”  
  


“Anyways…” - Jihoon said - “I’ll have to think about your invitation. I kinda have a bad history with that place.”

Soonyoung nodded in understanding. He knew it wasn’t easy to invite _the_ Woozi Lee to watch an amateur like him perform. He must have seen thousands of more interesting acts, including world-renowned dancers. 

“What kind of bad history?” - _Stupid Soonyoung, it is clearly his personal story! Why didn’t you respect his boundaries?_ were the first thing that Soonyoung thought of after he let the question leave his tongue.

“Ex-boyfriend” - Jihoon said sadly - “We used to go there.”

“Then you should come with me” - Soonyoung said, this time more enthusiastically. Ex-boyfriends are not a reason for anyone to stay away from having fun. - “He should be hiding from you if he broke your heart! You shouldn’t have to hide because of his mistake. Come, we can make new memories to fight away the bad ones.”

—

“I can’t believe you agreed to come to The 1996, Jihoon” - Seungcheol said sitting on Jihoon’s bed, trying to pick out the best outfit for Jihoon to make a reappearance at the place, and for _him_ to regret ever using Jihoon if he sees Jihoon.

“I can’t believe you feel the need to dress me up, Cheol” - Jihoon retorted as he put on the 5th shirt that evening. 

“It was Jeonghan’s idea” - Seungcheol said, handing Jihoon a leather black pants only to have Jihoon frown in disgust at it - “And you should dress up, maybe _he_ would die in embarrassment after he finds out what a prize he had missed.”

“Seungcheol!” - Jihoon hissed, putting on his favorite dress pants and throwing the leather one back into his wardrobe - “If anything, I hope I wouldn’t have to meet him tonight.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be right there for you” - Seungcheol said - “Jeonghan will also be there.”

“No, that’s what I’m scared of” - Jihoon sighed - “One of you will end up in the hospital and the other in the police station if we ever meet again.”

**[Hoshi]**

Hey,

I’m at your gate

You down?

Seungcheol raised his brows at the dings coming out of Jihoon’s phone and the smile he put on his face after he checked the messages. 

“You guys sure are close” - Seungcheol commented.

  
“Seungcheol”

“No, I mean it. He’s a good kid.” - Seungcheol said, nodding his head in approval.  
  


“He’s just a friend” - Jihoon said - “Also, we checked our meeting time, they are one day apart. I am not his soulmate and I’ll be meeting mine in a month.”

**[Woozi]**

I’m coming

We’re taking my car?

**[Hoshi]**

Yea, if you want

Tell Seungcheol to hurry up as well

It’s cold down here and I only have my work suit

It’s thin.

**[Woozi]**

Yea, coming!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am also working on my Glee AU! so please give it a lot of love too :D


	6. Daniel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn’t until Seungcheol accidentally mentioned a certain Daniel Kim that the atmosphere got heavy. Jihoon jerked from his seat, glaring at Seungcheol through the front mirror, and Seungcheol shot him an apologetic look while Jeonghan could only sigh.

Soonyoung looked good. Jihoon knew he said this before, but you need to praise art where art is appreciated, and Soonyoung was an entire masterpiece that night. He was wearing his  [ work costume ](https://twitter.com/Cherrygigi2/status/1348483682500104195?s=20) , which was a prince-like black suit with sparkled patterns embroidered on it. His permed hair looked amazing that night with him splitting it up delicately and his eyeshadows only made his face stand out more. 

Jihoon was so surprised with Soonyoung’s look that night that when he looked out his security video-comm, he thought a prince had come to visit, not Soonyoung. Soonyoung was having one hand in his left pocket, while the other was scrolling on his phone casually while waiting for Jihoon to open the door. Jihoon bit his lips as Seungcheol and Jeonghan kept teasing him about how he probably had a small crush on “Hoshi''.

“Hey” - Jihoon finally opened the door for Soonyoung, and Soonyoung wasted no time dashing right inside.

“It is so cold out there!” - He exclaimed as he found the heater and warmed himself up. It was then Jihoon noticed that his clothes were all net, and the fabric was really thin. Jihoon frowned at the discovery.

“Why didn’t you wear your coat?” - Jihoon asked as if he was scolding a small child. He could hear Seungcheol and Jeonghan snickers coming from the kitchen.

“I didn’t think I’d need it.” - Soonyoung explained - “It was a small walk from my dorm to the subway station, and I used the bus to get here, so I didn’t stay out in the cold for long.”

“What if I was busy and couldn’t open my door in time? Would you freeze and die?” - Jihoon scolded but he still walked over to the general control board for all his electricity and turned the home heater two-degree higher - “Seungcheol can you go to my room and grab my brother’s bomber? The black one in the closet on the left of my bed!”

“Jihoon it’s not ne-” - Soonyoung didn’t even get to finish his words before Seungcheol came down from Jihoon’s room with a very expensive [ black Balenciaga jacket ](https://twitter.com/svt_fashion3/status/1348994918925037568?s=20) \- “Now that I can’t wear…”

“Why?” - Jihoon asked, pushing the jacket onto Soonyoung. 

“Because it’s too expensive!” - Soonyoung almost screamed. He couldn’t wear it, if he ruined it he couldn’t pay Jihoon back, he could be sure of that.

“It’s okay” - Seungcheol calmed Soonyoung - “It’s from Jihoon’s brother. He moved out after he got married so he left his entire closet in his room. You can keep it if you want, considering it an early Christmas present” - Jihoon nodded then added - “Or a late birthday present.”

It took one more round of convincing and Jeonghan had to chime in to make sure to keep Soonyoung from ruining it for Soonyoung to actually accept the jacket. The four of them all moved to Jihoon’s garage where Jihoon chose one of his “more casual” drives to finally depart from Woozi Lee’s apartment. 

The drive to The 1996 wasn’t long, but Soonyoung was too busy re-listening to the song he was going to dance to that he didn’t notice the chit-chat between Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Jihoon. Seungcheol was driving, as always, because Jeonghan said Seungcheol looked good while driving. Jihoon was too lazy to drive, he preferred sitting at the back and watching the city while Jeonghan took the shotgun so he could be the car’s DJ. They talked about school work, and Soonyoung didn’t know that Woozi was studying Music at his University as well. He had never seen the guy on campus though, but he was too busy with practicing inside his head to ask.

It wasn’t until Seungcheol accidentally mentioned a certain Daniel Kim that the atmosphere got heavy. Jihoon jerked from his seat, glaring at Seungcheol through the front mirror, and Seungcheol shot him an apologetic look while Jeonghan could only sigh. 

“I’m sorry” - Seungcheol said - “I know, we all don’t want to hear that name again…”

“Woozi you should’ve let Cheol call him Voldemort so this wouldn’t happen” - Jeonghan tried to make a joke to lighten the car, but he failed miserably as he saw that Jihoon had taken out his phone and started typing furiously. 

When Jihoon got annoyed with something, he’d go rant on his private SNS account. Judging from the way Jihoon was typing, Jeonghan knew Jihoon was anxious.

“If he’s there, I can bring you to my staff room” - Soonyoung finally chimed in, and Jihoon let down his phone - “It’s way quieter there, and you can still watch my performance because we have a built-in TV system now.” 

“It’s okay” - Jihoon smiled - “I’m good. I just hope he’s not going to be there.”

Well, Jihoon hoped wrong. The moment Seungcheol stopped his car, Jihoon could spot a familiar silhouette walking hand-in-hand with a famous Instagram model that he was too anxious to remember her name. He signaled Jeonghan and Seungcheol about the appearance of  _ him _ . Seungcheol nodded in understanding as he parked a bit further away from the pub and had them walk to the place, making Soonyoung appreciate the jacket that Jihoon lent him because he didn’t know if he could survive the cold. 

“If you feel uncomfortable, we could always go to Soonyoung’s staff room.” - Jeonghan reminded Jihoon of his choices.

“No, it’s alright.” - Jihoon shook his head - “We just have to find a table further away from the stage. He always gets the VIP tables, so as long as we’re not coming to the VIP area, we’re good.” - Jihoon cocked his head and added - “I don’t want to watch Hoshi perform through the screen though, he invited me here for a reason.”

Soonyoung took thirty minutes to get his makeup on and ready to perform. Jihoon spent his time talking with Seungcheol and Jeonghan, drinking and talking about how much fun they had when they still hung out at The 1996, and how their friends, Wonwoo and Hansol, would be so mad if they found out they came here without them. Jihoon felt bad though, just because of his broken relationship that he had made his friends stay away from one of the places they loved most. Seungcheol and Jeonghan took all the time they could to assure Jihoon that they didn’t mind, nobody minded, for the fact that Daniel was a horrible human being. If they could go to Mars to get Jihoon away from him, they would.

Jihoon smiled at the thought of his friends’ supports and love, and it was then the light in the pub went dark. A spotlight came on, and a number of people were sitting on the floor and  [ started dancing ](https://twitter.com/hochithings/status/1348314567395467267?s=20) . The dance was elegant and sophisticated, and as nobody was noticing, out of nowhere, Hoshi appeared in his prince-like suit, doing his solo dance. Jihoon couldn’t take his eyes away from Soonyoung, who was moving quickly but accurately on the music. Soonyoung’s facial expression was no joke, as he managed to be both enigmatic and sexy at the same time. Jihoon could hear faint screams from the women in the club, and he smirked proudly. Seungcheol and Jeonghan excused themselves for a while, probably went to get more alcohol from the bar. Jihoon didn't mind, he didn’t talk with them anyways, too focused on watching Soonyoung dance. 

Yet, he didn’t notice a person approaching him, and it wasn’t until that person was in front of him that he squirmed and tried to get away, only to have his wrist captured by the taller man.

“Lee Jihoon, I can’t believe it’s you” - Daniel was the one who came over. 

“Daniel” - Jihoon gritted, he tried to pull himself away from the man, but he was no match for him - “Let me go you scum.”

“Well, well” - Daniel smirked - “Don’t act like we never knew each other like this. Don’t call me names, remember, kitty?” - Daniel continued to squeeze Jihoon’s wrist, extracting a whine of pain from Jihoon - “Are you coming back here because you miss me? Do you still want to write me a song? Or you want to write a song about me?”

  
“Shut up, Daniel” - Jihoon growled, but he couldn’t move much now that Daniel was cornering him into the table - “Shut up, shut up!”

“No, Jihoon” - Daniel let out a sarcastic chuckle - “Jihoon, you should let me go, to be exact. I’ve heard your songs from the new album, which ones were about me again?” - Daniel asked, using the most mockery innocent voice he could come up with - “All of them, right? You keep writing songs about me, yet you go around and tell all of your friends, all of OUR friends, that I used you for my ballad single. Right, Jihoonie?”

“You’re lying!” - Jihoon shook his head, tears were beginning to form in his eyes - “You did use me. You broke me for months!”

“No, Jihoonie, you broke my reputation!” - Daniel gritted his teeth - “None of your socialite friends want to endorse me anymore. None of them was willing to offer me a contract. You used me as an emotional tool for you to write your silly love songs, then go on to earn millions with it, while I got so low I had to start dating a minor Instagram KOL for fame.”

Daniel was spilling words of hate, and Jihoon was trembling with fear, trying to fight himself to not believe in those words Daniel said. Daniel had always been a manipulative person, he could make his mistakes into others’ mistakes. He made Jihoon believe that he was unlovable for months after their break-up. He made Jihoon believe that by channeling his feelings into songs, the only way he could express himself, he was actually using Daniel, exploiting him emotionally. Jihoon took months and a lot of reassurance from his friends to stop believing in that, and there Daniel was, only took a few minutes to make Jihoon believe it all again. 

However, when Daniel was smirking with satisfaction, Soonyoung saw that Jihoon was cornered and harassed. The next thing Jihoon knew, Soonyoung already gave Daniel his fist. Daniel was wincing with pain, and Soonyoung had already embraced Jihoon in his arms, trying to calm Jihoon down. 

“So you must be his new toy?” - Daniel cleaned off the blood on the corner of his mouth - “Be careful with him or he’ll get rid of you soon.” - Daniel stared at Soonyoung, but Soonyoung only embraced Jihoon harder, giving Jihoon warmth and security - “He’ll use you to write his songs, then when his album is out, he’ll throw you away like a rag doll. He’ll make sure to ruin your reputation, and silent you on all channels. He is a vicious little brat, a useless producer who could never know love. Love to him is just a tool, and you’ll learn it soon.”

“And you better learn to keep your mouth shut” - Seungcheol’s voice came from Daniel’s left as he landed his fist onto Daniel’s face. Seungcheol signaled Soonyoung to bring Jihoon away from this mess, and Soonyoung nodded as he carried Jihoon in his embrace and walked toward the staff room.

Soonyoung slowly led Jihoon to his couch, turning the heater on and gave Jihoon a blanket. He didn’t say anything, only texted one of his colleagues to bring some hot chocolate to his room and sat down next to Jihoon. Jihoon was still sobbing, he couldn’t look up from the floor and he was whispering incoherent words to himself that Soonyoung couldn’t make sense of. 

Soonyoung felt horrible ever since because he was the one who invited Jihoon to the pub. He knew about Jihoon’s bad experience with the place and still insisted him to come. 

_ “Sorry Woozi” _ was all he could say to Jihoon then. Yet, Woozi shook his head as if he was trying to say it wasn’t Soonyoung’s fault. It only made Soonyoung’s heart drop harder, as he couldn’t see how someone as forgiving as Woozi could be seen as something so evil through Daniel’s mouth. He didn’t know how many people Daniel told that story to, though, Soonyoung was willing to find every single one of them and tell them how wonderful Woozi actually was. 

It took a long while before Jihoon could find his voice again after he had finished Soonyoung’s hot chocolate. 

“Please” - It sounded so much like a plea it made Soonyoung’s heart hurt - “Please don’t believe him. I won’t use you, I’ll never use you.”

“I know” - Soonyoung said with a soft tone, assuring Jihoon that he didn’t believe a word Daniel said.

“Please, I’m not unlovable” - This sounded more like Jihoon was talking with himself rather than talking with Soonyoung, but Soonyoung nodded anyway - “I know love, I don’t hurt people.”

“I know, Woozi” - Soonyoung felt so bad he wanted to embrace Jihoon. Yet, he was scared he’d overstep his boundaries. They both were expecting their soulmates, but for tonight, Soonyoung didn’t feel like he cared about what his soulmate would think. He only cared that he had to take care of a broken Woozi. 

He scooted over to be nearer to Jihoon and he opened his arms. He figured this way, Woozi could be the one to decide whether or not he wanted Soonyoung’s embrace. To Soonyoung’s surprise, Woozi moved into his arms and peacefully closed his eyes. Soonyoung didn’t move until he felt like Woozi’s breathing was becoming more stable, signaling that he was already sound asleep that he slowly stroke Jihoon’s fluffy hair. 

“I believe you are lovable.” - He said as he pressed a small kiss on Woozi’s forehead and smiled contentedly as Jihoon shifted closer to him in his sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I say that this is the first official fluff of this fic even though I marketed it as fluff af? :D This is sadly only the first introduction of "Daniel", and he should be expected in a lot more chapters to come. I don't know how to explain Soonyoung's sudden urge to pamper Jihoon now, but as the story progresses I'll unlock the conversation that they had about their soulmates in Jihoon's studio last chapter, and we'll get to understand more why Soonyoung did what he did. This is not a spoiler this is just me building suspense so that you'll be curious lol =)))
> 
> Oh and the jacket would play an important role in the future, too. 
> 
> Anw I wanted to leave this chapter on a cliffhanger but I feel like for what I'm planning next, both of them deserve a bit of fluff and calm before. So, yay to first skinship and first forehead kiss. For many more to come!
> 
> Thank you for being so patient with me.


	7. His warmth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He knew that in the end, Hoshi would always choose his soulmate, and he had come to term with the fact that he would accept whatever they had right now as friendship, but he longed for being in Hoshi’s embrace once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG I tried to write this today because it'll be the concert tomorrow and I won't have time to write

Jihoon woke up the next day in his own bed and under his own blanket. It took him a while to recover from all the intense memories and feelings flooding back onto him after he was awake. He felt like he had gone through an emotional roller-coaster yesterday, with intense anxiety and panic when facing Daniel to the warmth and fuzzy feeling of being able to fall asleep in Hoshi’s embrace at the end of the day. He looked around, his curtains were shut and the night-light on his nightstand was turned off. Whoever placed him in his bed probably didn’t want the morning light to wake him up from his slumber, knowing full well that he needed the sleep to recover. He looked for his phone only to find out that he had thirty missed calls from his Publicist and his friends.

He found out that Seungcheol and Daniel were both brought to the police station. To protect Jihoon, Jeonghan lied that Daniel sexually harassed him, and Seungcheol was just being protective toward his soulmate. Seungcheol and Jeonghan made sure that Jihoon’s name wasn’t mentioned, and Soonyoung also told the press that he would make sure he’d talk to The 1996’s owner so that Daniel could never step one foot into the pub again. Jihoon felt like he must have saved the world in his previous life to be blessed with the friends he has in this lifetime. 

**[Hoshi]**

Hey,

Are you up?

**[Woozi]**

Yeah

I’m up

**[Hoshi]**

Great,

I made some PB&J sandwiches and placed them in the fridge

Sorry for leaving you alone

I have 11 am class and I couldn’t ditch

Almost mid-term

I’ll see you at Beanie after 2

Get some rest

**[Woozi]**

Wait

Did you

Bring me home?

**[Hoshi]**

Yeah

Sorry for intruding your place

**[Woozi]**

No

Thanks a lot

See you later

Jihoon placed his phone back on his nightstand and made his way into the kitchen where he found a mess of jam jars and dirty cutleries laying around. He figured that Hoshi hardly ever cooked, and he was trying to make a better breakfast for him but then gave up and settled on a PB&J sandwich. Jihoon smiled at the thought. Yesterday, when he fell asleep in Hoshi’s embrace, he felt good. He felt the warmth and calm energy that he had never felt before. He let Hoshi hold him like a baby, and he let himself be held, be protected and be calmed. The feeling only came back stronger the more he thought about it. 

Even Jihoon had to admit to himself that him crawling into Hoshi’s embrace the night before was very out-of-character for him. He hated being too close to people, and he hated being touched by people whom he’s not familiar with. He had only known Soonyoung for a week, and three days of that week they didn’t even meet each other. Yet, at his most vulnerable moment, Hoshi allowed him a chance to choose whether or not he wanted to be held, and Jihoon gave into the tenderness of Hoshi. 

_I wish that Hoshi is my soulmate._

When that thought appeared in his mind, he suddenly felt bitter all over. The feeling of warmth and calm and security disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. Hoshi was not his soulmate, at least that what he figured. They had different designated meeting times for their soulmates and Hoshi and he had too many differences in even the slightest thing to be soulmates. Jihoon liked to keep things for himself, Hoshi didn’t mind oversharing sometimes. Jihoon loved cats, Hoshi preferred dogs. Jihoon cringed at those cheesy romantic movies, Hoshi cried because of them. A lot of their differences came up during their conversation the other day in Jihoon’s studio, and even though Jihoon believed Hoshi could be a pretty good boyfriend, considering how he took care of Jihoon yesterday, Hoshi would eventually go back to his soulmate because he had always believed in soulmates and how they were a hundred percent match. Hoshi’s choice would always be his soulmate. So, rather than trying to feel anything more than what they had right now, Jihoon decided to be content with what they would have in this one month, a beautiful close-friendship.

Jihoon looked at his phone after he finished the breakfast that Hoshi prepared for him. It was only twelve, and two hours away from Hoshi’s meeting at Beanie Cafe. Jihoon figured he would stop by the studio first and try to write something to get this heavy feeling of his chest first. 

_Don’t do this to me, Hoshi._

Jihoon immediately thought after he saw the coffee cup hanging on the doorknob of his studio. It was Hazelnut coffee without cream foam, so it couldn’t be from Mingyu, Seungcheol or Jeonghan. It could only be Hoshi.

**[Hoshi]**

You at the studio?

Be careful to not spill the coffee

I had Mingyu special-made it

Even though it wasn’t his shift when I came over

LOL

**[Woozi]**

Don’t spoil me like this

**[Hoshi]**

After what you went through

A little spoiling is good

Remind you that you’re loved by us

**[Woozi]**

Thank you though

**[Hoshi]**

Don’t sweat it.

_If you keep doing this I’ll be jealous of your future soulmate for real, Hoshi-ah._

\--

_“So” - Jihoon asked the other day in his studio - “You received two letters?”_

_“Yeah” - Soonyoung replied - “The first one I received like two years ago and one I received like a week ago.”_

_“And you chose the musician.” - Jihoon nodded understandingly - “How did you know which one to choose, considering you said it yourself, you’re bad with choices?”_

_“Honestly, I don’t know either.” - Soonyoung shook his head - “But the one at the Soulmate Office said something about soulmate sense.” - Jihoon gave him a look of confusion, and Soonyoung took it as a sign for him to keep talking - “It means that even though the computers could calculate the compatibility between two people, they must have been destined for each other even before birth in order to be matched with each other. You know, they were connected by destiny, by fate, to be each other’s soulmate.”_

_“That makes sense” - Jihoon cocked his head - “I think using your soulmate sense to find your soulmate is actually better than relying on machines. How can you trust the person you have only met on that particular day at that particular time to be the one you want to spend the rest of your life with. I just don’t get that.”_   
  


_“But you still send the letter anyway.” - Soonyoung said - “Why?”_

_“I had a bad break-up ten months before that.” - Jihoon sighed, he didn’t want to answer this question if someone else asked, but he wanted Hoshi to know for some reason - “And that day was after the night I had a horrible mental breakdown. I couldn’t believe anyone could love me, not even my friends even though they tried their best to comfort me. So Mingyu suggested that I send that letter, so that my soulmate could tell me they love me. He said that if I didn’t trust them, maybe I’d trust the one who is the most compatible to me since they’ll know what to say.” - Jihoon took a short pause before he added - “But I haven’t received a reply from them, so I guess somehow they’d let me down.”_

_“I never sent mine.” - Soonyoung said and Jihoon was just about to reply that Soonyoung already told him that, but Soonyoung added right after - “Because I’m scared that I might hurt them somehow with my words. I’m scared of the what-ifs and what if I make them no longer want to be my soulmate after I send my poorly written letter. So, I never sent it.”_

_“They’re your soulmate, maybe they’ll love your poorly written letter.” - Jihoon said what he thought was the most comforting sentence he had ever said to someone._

_“I’m still scared. I only have them as my soulmate. I know that I’ll love them, and cherish them, and tell them everyday that they’re the best thing in my life.” - Soonyoung smiled at his own thought - “And I thought it’d be that easy, having everything planned ahead.”_

_“But then you had to choose.” - Jihoon knew what Soonyoung was about to say._

_“Yeah” - Soonyoung sighed - “And now I’m more scared of the what-ifs.”_

_“You don’t have to be” - Jihoon moved closer to Soonyoung as an act of assurance - “If you got two letters and got to choose between one of them, that means the system is flawed, and in the end, we all choose who we want to be with. So if you made the wrong choice and that person also feels like it, you can walk away. Your soulmate is just a suggestion from the system. In the end, it’s your love and effort that keeps you two together.”_

_“Yeah” - Soonyoung’s face lit up like he just had a realization, but then he decided to reply with a simple word as if he didn’t know what to say._

\--

Jihoon sat in the empty studio, he thought of what he said to Hoshi, and how Hoshi took care of him the night before. Jihoon hoped he could stay true to his words, that he could make a decision on who he wanted to love and spend the rest of his life with. He took a small sip of his Hazelnut coffee, and immediately he could feel the overwhelming taste of milk. He knew that Hoshi was on Seungcheol’s side about how Jihoon should consume less caffeine, that was why Hoshi asked Mingyu to put more milk in his Hazelnut coffee. 

I didn’t taste bad.

A part of Jihoon grew envious of the person who would be taken care of by Hoshi in the future. He envied the person who Hoshi would open his arms to offer his embrace to. He wanted to relive the feeling of yesterday night, him in Hoshi’s warmth, basking in the feeling of being taken care of. Jihoon didn’t know that the feeling he was having was because he had never felt the warmth of being cared for before, or it was him falling for Hoshi. He didn’t know whether or not the next time he saw Hoshi, he’d still feel the same. He didn’t know that Hoshi’s softness yesterday was because Hoshi was being pitiful to Jihoon, or that Hoshi really wanted to do so. He just didn’t know why he was having too many complicated feelings toward the memories of a gentle Hoshi from last night. 

_I really wish for you to see my dreams_

_I wish for us to be able to hurt together every hour_

_Even though you won’t know how I think of you every single_

_day throughout the many seasons._

Jihoon finished [the song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYYvD61JWvo&ab_channel=seventeenlyrics) in just three hours. A song he wrote because he felt like if he never got these feelings off his chest, he wouldn’t be able to look at Hoshi without breaking down and begging him to hold him just like the night before. He knew that in the end, Hoshi would always choose his soulmate, and he had come to terms with the fact that he would accept whatever they had right now as friendship, but he longed for being in Hoshi’s embrace once again. Only for a short while was also fine, he just wanted to be basked in the security, the feeling that Hoshi was giving him. He might have been going crazy because he had never felt real love from another person before, but he might as well be going crazy of all the overflowing gentleness that Hoshi was giving him. The way Hoshi held him wasn’t like how his ex-boyfriends held him, the words Hoshi murmured to him in comfort wasn’t what his ex-boyfriends gave him. He could feel that his heart knew that everything Hoshi did was genuine, at least at that moment it was genuine. Hoshi didn’t want to be close to him because he could give Hoshi something, but Hoshi really wanted to be close to him. As a friend, as something more? Jihoon couldn’t tell. 

**[Jihoonie]**

Cheol, I did it

I wrote a song about Hoshi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After 7 chapters we finally reached the point where one of the two faces their feelings for each other, and it'll only be sweeter from now on that Jihoon faced his. I hope y'all wasn't annoyed at the constant update this week, lol. I tried to push as much of what I planned from my break last week out because I won't be able to update regularly next week. I'm even surprised at how much I could write this week lol.
> 
> Anyways, thank you so much for reading! Please leave a comment if you found any inconsistency because I just figured out a huge time mistake I made in the first chapter and it took me 2 weeks to see it, so if there is any confusion, please do comment I'll even love you more if you do that lol <3


	8. A PR issue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Woozi was already shaking as Soonyoung put his phone down. He looked at Soonyoung as if he was begging him to not believe in the things about him, that he was not the next “inspiration”. Soonyoung knew, he understood, but he couldn’t make Woozi believe him. Not at that moment. He did the only thing he knew from the night before, Soonyoung opened his arms again, offering a safe-space for Woozi to come to. Again, Woozi moved toward him and fell right into the embrace. Jihoon wished to feel this warmth and security again, but not like this, not when the entire world was against him and not when he knew he was the one who pulled Hoshi out of his ordinary life and into the spotlight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking too long to write this =((( I was debating on whether I should keep the dramas going or give the kids a happy ending =))) Sorry for choosing chaos...

Just as Jihoon was about to play the song he wrote for Hoshi again, Hoshi himself opened his studio’s door and walked in with a worried expression on his face. Jihoon figured that Seungcheol had told Hoshi about his tendency to lock himself up in his studio for days without eating and drinking, and Hoshi came because Jihoon was late for their meeting. 

Jihoon didn’t know how much of the song Hoshi heard, and he didn’t know why he felt the need to hide it. It wasn’t like he put Hoshi’s name on the song, but he still felt like that song should be kept away from Hoshi. 

“That’s a nice song” - Soonyoung said, immediately earning a yelp from Jihoon and Soonyoung cocked his head in confusion as to why Woozi reacted like that.

“How much of it have you heard?” - Jihoon blurted out as he called himself stupid the very moment later. 

“Not much” - Soonyoung shook his head as he moved to the sofa in Jihoon’s studio, this time more comfortable - “However, everything you do is a guaranteed hit, so I wouldn’t worry much about my opinion if I were you.” 

“I’m sorry if I’m late for our meeting.” - Jihoon closed his music-producing application on his computer - “If there is anything you want to discuss…”

“Well, your song is great, I’ve sent it to the organizers” - Soonyoung said, but then he looked at Jihoon before continuing - “But I was supposed to perform it with Cheol-hyung, who is now suspended after the… you know” - Soonyoung sighed - “I’ll have to rechoreograph the entire performance to make it a solo then.”

Jihoon’s heart dropped.  _ “Sorry” _ was what he could come up with. Jihoon knew that he should’ve listened to his friends and watched the performance from Soonyoung’s staff room, but he was too insistent on watching Hoshi perform live. Jihoon didn’t know what happened to his decision-making ability then he only knew that he wanted to support Hoshi, and he didn’t want to ruin Seungcheol and Jeonghan’s night, they shouldn’t be cautious and couldn’t enjoy their night back at their favorite pub because of him. Seungcheol and Jeonghan met for the first time at The 1996, and it used to be their favorite hang out place. Seungcheol even planned to ask Jeonghan to move in with him on their third anniversary there, but since Jihoon broke up with Daniel, they had to stop coming to The 1996 to avoid Daniel, and Seungcheol had to put his plan on hold. Even last night, it was Seungcheol and Hoshi who protected him, Seungcheol even got suspended from this program because of him. 

“You don’t have to apologize, Jihoon” - Soonyoung smiled - “When you’re putting on a performance, accidents can happen. You just have to be flexible.” 

“I can perform it with you” -  _ Damn damn damn damn Jihoon you can’t dance even if your life depends on it. _

“No way, Woozi” - Soonyoung said - “A celebrity dancing with a senior student, I’ll be the talk of the town for months, Zi.”

“Zi?” - Jihoon’s heart dropped at the nickname. 

“Oh, no, sorry” - Soonyoung immediately apologized, scared that he might have offended Woozi. 

“No, I like it, it’s like how my friends call me.” - Jihoon said, smiling, contented that they were finally comfortable enough with each other to call each other by nicknames, but a part of him was scared that it might get him to be too attached to Hoshi.

“Anyways, as much as I love that you offered to dance with me, I don’t think it’s a good idea.” - Soonyoung shook his head.

“You can get more media coverage if I dance with you” -  _ Stupid Jihoon, are you really offering Hoshi to use you like how your ex-boyfriends did?  _

“Okay, no.” - Soonyoung said firmly - “Now that is just using you and your fame. I’m not going to do that. Woozi, I can do this, you’ve helped enough, even more than you should for someone you just met.”

“Even if we just met, I feel like…” - Jihoon stopped mid-sentence, understanding that what he was about to say could affect their friendship right now, so he changed the later part of the sentence - “...I need to help you because you are Cheol’s precious junior.”

“You don’t have to, really” - As Soonyoung was talking, Jihoon’s phone rang loudly, interrupting the two. 

It was Jihoon’s publicist, from what Soonyoung could make sense from the phone call, his publicist was going frantic because of a sudden post from Daniel on Twitter. Soonyoung immediately took out his phone and logged into the bird app, only to see Woozi’s name trending at #1, and various people were calling him a manipulative, exploitative, fake producer. Daniel had made a post spreading his lies about how Woozi used him only to write his sentiment songs and dumped him the very moment the album was out. Soonyoung frowned, he knew that Daniel was spreading lies, but people were already siding with Daniel as the poor, broken boyfriend and were attacking Woozi with vulgar language.

But what caught Soonyoung’s eyes was that he was also involved in this. Soonyoung didn’t know when, but someone managed to capture a photo of him embracing Woozi while confronting Daniel the night before. They also posted a picture of Soonyoung leaving the pub with Woozi after, while wearing Woozi's brother's customized Balenciaga bomber. It even had Woozi’s brother’s name embroidered tinily on the back. His name was then trending as well, people speculating him to be the next boyfriend who would be discarded after Woozi’s comeback. People were calling him “poor thing”, “naive little dude”, and tons of sympathetic things that he didn’t need. He knew that Woozi was not that person, but besides him and Woozi’s friends, nobody knew. 

Woozi was already shaking as Soonyoung put his phone down. He looked at Soonyoung as if he was begging him to not believe in the things about him, that he was not the next “inspiration”. Soonyoung knew, he understood, but he couldn’t make Woozi believe him. Not at that moment. He did the only thing he knew from the night before, Soonyoung opened his arms again, offering a safe-space for Woozi to come to. Again, Woozi moved toward him and fell right into the embrace. Jihoon wished to feel this warmth and security again, but not like this, not when the entire world was against him and not when he knew he was the one who pulled Hoshi out of his ordinary life and into the spotlight. 

“It’s ok” - Soonyoung said with a really soft voice like he did the night before. He couldn’t believe it didn’t even take twenty-four hours for Soonyoung to be able to hold Woozi again - “I believe you won’t use me.”

Jihoon immediately flinched. He actually wrote a song about Hoshi a few moments ago.  _ What if Hoshi knows about the song, would he think that everything Daniel said is true?  _ What if what Daniel said is true, that everytime he catches feelings with someone, he would milk those emotions for inspiration for his songs? That is wrong, right? That was what the people were saying, that he exploited others and earned millions on their stories.

“I’m so so sorry” - Jihoon mumbled as he pulled away from Hoshi only to be held once again by the person in front of him.

“You repeat that apology one more time and I’ll be angry for real, Woozi” - Soonyoung said softly - “You don’t have to be sorry for what you didn’t do wrong. Daniel is manipulative, you know it, and he is just playing on the trauma he left you.” - Soonyoung stopped saying to check on Woozi’s expression before he continued - “You are not exploiting anyone’s emotions or stories, you’re just letting out YOUR emotions. It’s different, Zi.”

“What if I write a song about you…?” - Jihoon asked softly, half hoped that Hoshi couldn’t hear what he said and just ignored the question.

“It depends if it’s a love song or a diss track” - Soonyoung cracked a joke and sighed in relief as Woozi finally smiled - “But I’d be happy to be dissed by Woozi Lee, at least the song would be a hit.”

Woozi laughed out loud, and Soonyoung soon joined in. For a moment there Jihoon just forgot instantly about what just happened. He didn’t mind that he’d have to have a meeting with his PR team later, or that he’d be answering to his father about this entire issue and telling him how, painful as it was, Hoshi was not his new boyfriend and he was just taking care of a very drunk Jihoon. For that moment, Jihoon just wanted to be comforted by Soonyoung, and he knew only Soonyoung could comfort him. 

Jihoon’s phone rang again, pulling him back into a reality where it was obvious that he still had a PR issue to deal with as well as a very angry executive board to talk to. This time, Jihoon’s expression changed from annoyed to scared as the person who was trying to reach him was none other than his own father. He moved away from Soonyoung and took a deep breath before he answered his phone, to which he immediately heard the screams coming from the other side of the line. His father was in fact not happy about the new problem as it was too close to Jihoon’s birthday, which would be his comeback date. He was supposed to release an album on that day, but now his father was making it clear that if he released a sad album, the public would immediately read into it as an album about Daniel. 

“But I don’t have any new songs recently, I wouldn’t be able to make it in time as production for the album starts next week, dad.” - Jihoon whined, he was right, jacket shooting started two days from now, and after that, it would be pre-comeback interviews and shootings, he wouldn’t have time to write a new song. 

“Then use that song you were writing for that student!” - His dad said - “He wouldn’t mind, we can offer him a bunch of money to buy off the song. I’m sure that whatever it is we can pay.”

“Dad” - Jihoon growled annoyingly - “That song I wrote for him was for Hoshi to participate in his school’s festival competition. I just can’t take it away.”

“Bring the boy to me, I’ll talk to him myself. Apparently, my son, who I trained to work in this industry as a genius composer, is actually an idiot.” - Jihoon’s dad said coldly and before he could give Jihoon a chance to answer, he hung up. 

Jihoon sighed. His father wouldn’t listen to reason, and he wouldn’t want to take the song away from Hoshi either. That song was tailored for Hoshi’s style, and the only one who should be performing it would be Hoshi. 

“Why don’t you use the new song you were writing when I came here.” - Soonyoung finally spoke up - “It’s a great one.”

“I can’t” - Jihoon jumped - “I, um, it’s for a special someone…” - Jihoon mumbled, he hoped that Soonyoung wouldn’t push the question further.

Soonyoung could feel his heart skip a beat.  _ A special someone… _

“You…” - Soonyoung felt his lips went dry, he swallowed once to get his words out of his throat before he could say the rest of the sentence - “You can take the song you wrote for me. I wouldn’t mind.”

“Hoshi” - Jihoon cut him off - “That song was written for you, for your style. Nobody could sing that song, not even me.” 

“Well, you did sing the demo, and it was really good” - Soonyoung said.

“What if we just go to my dad?” - Jihoon continued cutting Soonyoung off - “I’ll propose a collaboration between you and me. That way, you get to keep the song, and I get to not be yelled at by the executive, my dad, my publicist, and the manufacturers.”

Jihoon immediately regretted what he said. Hoshi just refused his offer to dance with him, he probably wouldn’t want to be associated with the Woozi brand. Moreover, that would mean Hoshi had to be put into the spotlight, even a bigger one than the mess he was pulled into right now. It would be the closest thing to making an actual debut. Jihoon didn’t even know if Hoshi wanted to join the showbiz. Jihoon bit his lips, scolding himself for making a selfish offer that only benefited him, not Hoshi.

“Yeah, a collab sounds great” - Soonyoung finally spoke up, and Jihoon felt like he could finally breathe. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anw I'm having a lot of ideas on how to move forward from now on, and especially we're going to spend the next couple of chapters exploring Soonyoung's side of the story. I still don't know whether I should keep this straight-forward and short, or I should test them a bit more so that it'll be more satisfying when they get together lol =)) However, I promised fluff, so the dramas wouldn't last long I swear =))) 
> 
> Also, finally, we get to explore Soonyoung's side, as Soonyoung was the one who initiated the first fluff scene, and the forehead kiss. It'll be so much easier that I've established Jihoon's feelings for Soonyoung, now I only have to figure out a way to establish Soonyoung's =)) I'm half-way done guys :D 
> 
> P/s: Seoksoo is coming guys


	9. Not alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Either way, there was one thing that Soonyoung could be sure of, that ever since he met Woozi, he no longer had to face the mess of his choices alone. 
> 
> So whatever choice he made, he could make it with confidence that there would be a Woozi supporting him. All Soonyoung needed was a confirmation from Woozi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk half of this chapter is me trying to find a way to force Soonyoung to admit that there is a difference in his life since Woozi came into it. The other half was me trying to fix the mess I created yesterday by piling two issues on top of each other lol

Mr. Lee was not a kind man, Soonyoung would say. The very moment he arrived at the Lee mansion, Mr. Lee had stared at him with intense gazes, scanning him, studying him, trying to catch his smallest mistake. Soonyoung felt like he was bare naked in front of the old man, and he felt like Woozi could feel it too as everytime he got too uncomfortable, Woozi would create distractions, mostly involving himself excusing to use the washroom or asking if Lunch was ready. Mr. Lee didn’t say much, he didn’t get to the point of why they were called to his mansion today. Yet, he made sure that they both knew that he was trying to fix Woozi’s scandal by talking to his assistants in front of them, making sure that they heard loud and clear the severity of what happened.

“This is just him trying to guilt-trip us before actually talking about the solution so that we will agree to anything” - Woozi leaned over and whispered into Soonyoung’s ear. But they quickly earned a glare from Mr. Lee.

“Ji, if there is anything you want to say…” - Mr. Lee said with a low tone, almost seemed threatening.

“No father.” - Woozi immediately moved away from Soonyoung. 

“Ji, I am disappointed” - Soonyoung could see Woozi flinching in his seat - “You know that of everything, a love scandal is the worst thing to deal with. I taught you that. I taught you well.”

“Father, this is not…”

“Ji! I am not done speaking” - Mr. Lee growled, and Soonyoung could imagine Woozi squirming in his seat out of fear - “I let you be on your own for two years, and you already brought us a scandal that could hinder your entire career.” - Mr. Lee sighed loudly, a sigh he made sure Woozi knew was disappointment.

“With all due respect, Mr. Lee” - Soonyoung tried to stand up for Woozi, only to be pinched by the one he was trying to protect. It was a way for Woozi to tell him to keep silence, nothing he said would matter.

“Say it, Hoshi” - Mr. Lee, unfortunately, heard it, and he raised his eyebrows before allowing Soonyoung to finally speak - “Let’s hear what the boy-toy has to say.”

Woozi clenched his teeth and tried to suppress his boiling anger down. Even his own father called Hoshi his boy-toy.

“With all due respect, Daniel is a compulsive liar” - Soonyoung started, ignoring the boy-toy comment - “He went into a relationship with Woozi looking for fame, and when Woozi found out he left the guy and made sure that he couldn’t use anyone else. Woozi prevented others from being hurt by this horrible excuse of a man, and he even endured the loss of confidence for a while since Daniel was so manipulative to Woozi he made Woozi believe that he was a horrible producer for using real emotions in songs.”

“And if my son was a good enough producer, he wouldn’t have to continuously rely on relationships to get inspiration.” - Mr. Lee squinted his eyes - “He got himself into the mess today, Mr…”

“Kwon” - Soonyoung answered.

“Yes, Mr. Kwon. If he didn’t feel the need to date other people just to get inspiration, he wouldn’t be in this mess today. He should’ve just waited for his soulmate to appear.” 

“Then, sir, where would he get the emotions from?” - Soonyoung blurted out. It was in the heat of the moment, and he regretted it immediately after.  _ Well, at least you were polite. _

“He could get them from anywhere if he is good enough. But apparently, he isn’t.” - Mr. Lee said coldly as if he was talking about someone who wasn’t his son - “Anyway, now that we have a PR issue on hand, and my son suggested a collaboration between two of you to explain your appearance in the God’s forsaken photos, I need you to sign with Lee Music in order to continue this collaboration.”

“He has to what?” - Jihoon exclaimed.

“Yes, I need him to be under my label, so that I can make sure that he can’t do anything that is harmful to you and to our brand, Ji.” - Mr. Lee said calmly as if it was an “as-if” situation.

“You can’t make him sign with Lee Music for only 1 collaboration.” - Woozi finally spoke up to his father after a while. 

“I don’t trust him, Ji” - His father said, his voice though, was sounding like he was slowly losing patience - “Signing with Lee Music is the only way I can make sure he doesn’t run to the press immediately after you dump him.”

“We’re not dating!” - Woozi said angrily - “And I know Hoshi, he is not that type of person”

“But the public doesn’t know that” - Mr. Lee said - “Now, either he signs, or you can forget this collaboration, I’ll take his song back.”

“You can’t take his song back, I wrote it for him” - Woozi said, looking over to a contemplating Hoshi.

“Mr. Woozi, must I remind you that you work for Lee Music. All of your content during your time with Lee Music belongs to Lee Music, including potential features of other artists.” - Mr. Lee’s assistant spoke up, coldly, like a robot.

“This is why I do not want Hoshi to sign with Lee Music! Your contract is a scam, you practically own us, we’re nothing more than your mere puppets!” - Woozi said with fury, he signed with Lee Music because he was a Lee himself, but after being with the company for a while, he realized that Lee Music was like a blackhole. They sucked everything from their artists and gave back nothing.

“Mr. Lee I would proceed with my next word choices carefully if I were you” - Mr. Lee’s assistant reminded him again - “Any slander toward the President will result in corporate discipline.”

“What are you going to do, Hong? You can’t fire me.” - Woozi smirked.

“No, Mr. Lee” - The assistant replied calmly - “But corporate discipline includes halting all of your activities permanently until the end of your contract.”

“Zi” - Soonyoung called out to Woozi, he wasn’t sure that he was trying to calm the producer down or he just wanted Woozi to stop before he ruined his career by taunting his father - “Can we excuse ourselves for a moment? We need a private discussion.” - Soonyoung addressed the excuse to Mr. Lee, which raised his eyebrows in confusion but gestured to them to leave either way.

“You cannot sign that contract, Hoshi” - The first thing Woozi said when they both made sure that they were not able to be heard by Mr. Lee and the assistant was a plea - “You have to understand that Lee Music is controlling, that they will be in control of all your SNS accounts, that you’ll have to cut ties with friends that they don’t approve of, that you’ll be forced to drop out of school in order to keep up with their hectic schedules.” - Woozi went on a rant about how horrible his father’s company was, and how the only thing Mr. Lee valued was his reputation and brand image - “I don’t want you to have to make that decision just to save my ass. You can walk away, cut all ties with me, I’ll take care of this, I’ll make sure your name stays off the headlines, I’ll make sure you can go back to your normal life.”

“Wait, Zi, calm down” - Soonyoung smiled calmly, mostly to help Woozi to stop freaking out because he himself was freaking out as well.

Now that Soonyoung thought of it, his last couple of weeks were crazy. He could take the deal and make it easier for Woozi to get himself out of the entire scandal, or he could just walk away and make it easier for himself. He only knew Woozi for two weeks, they were not close friends or anything, they worked together on a project that was beneficial for both of them. So, Soonyoung was well aware of his options. However, making the decision was difficult for him. He could walk away, but he didn’t feel like he wanted to. At that moment, Soonyoung wasn’t sure the reason was that he was just offered to sign with one of the biggest labels in the country, or it was the person in front of him, the producer who was in trouble. He just knew that even if he could walk away, he couldn’t, he didn’t want to.

Soonyoung had always been a “weird” kid, as his parents used to joke around like that. He sometimes seemed too energetic, the other times too quiet. He did things impulsively, most of the time he just followed what he felt was right at that moment. He regretted his choices a lot of the time, like how he wanted to be in the same class with his ex-crush so he chose to do Liberal arts in his high school, though he scored high enough in his entrance exam to be put into Advanced Science, they didn’t end up in the same class in the end, and he was stuck with Liberal arts until the end of the school year. However, Soonyoung considered himself a persistent person, he would go through until the end with his choices, no matter how bad it was, because he knew that only he could get himself out of the mess he created. 

So in that moment where he had to choose between walking away and signing the deal to help Woozi, he wanted to walk away, but he knew he would sign the offer. He thought about it for a couple of days now, but ever since he met Woozi, his choices were always supported, it didn’t make his choices right, but it made him feel like less of a mistake and more of a human trying to figure out life. Even when he made the worst mistake of his life bringing Woozi back to The 1996 and got him into this mess right now, Woozi supported him. Woozi even comforted Soonyoung that he didn’t have to feel bad about what happened with Daniel even though Soonyoung knew that it was emotionally exhausting for Woozi to have to deal with everything. Even right now, even if he chose to walk away and cut all ties with Woozi, Woozi would still support him and would do his best to protect him from the public. Even if he chose the worse choice, which was to sign with Lee Music, Woozi, though disappointed, would respect his choice. Either way, there was one thing that Soonyoung could be sure of, that ever since he met Woozi, he no longer had to face the mess of his choices alone. 

So whatever choice he made, he could make it with confidence that there would be a Woozi supporting him. All Soonyoung needed was a confirmation from Woozi.

“Zi, if I were to make a horrible decision, would you still support me?” - Soonyoung asked, his voice tinted with a tone of genuine that he hoped Woozi could hear. 

“Like what?” - Woozi asked cautiously.

“Anything. It’s a general question.” - Soonyoung answered softly, and his eyes lit up when he saw a little nod from Woozi. 

“As long as it’s not stupid…” - Woozi said, but Soonyoung knew he didn’t mean that - “Also, as long as it’s not signing with my dad, because that is stupid.”

“I’m not signing with your dad.” - Soonyoung said firmly, and he could feel the sigh of relief Woozi let out immediately after - “But I am thinking of signing with another Lee, though. Lee Seokmin, your cousin.”

“What?” - Woozi asked hazily. DK Ent. was a division of Lee Music, however, DK Ent. was still independent in making decisions and artist management. This was like a loophole, technically, Hoshi would still be signing with Lee Music, but his cousin, Seokmin, would be the one taking care of Hoshi and his activities, not his dad. 

“Yeah, your father’s assistant, Joshua, slipped me a document about DK Ent. earlier before the meeting, and I was reading it while you were arguing with your father. I think the assistant knew that your dad was trying to force me to sign with him, and he was offering me a way out.” - Soonyoung cocked his head as he smiled at a confused Woozi - “But I will be thinking about it though, I don’t want to make any impulsive decision this time, especially if it concerns you. The last thing I want is for you to be hurt more than you already are.”

  
“Don’t say that” - Woozi mumbled.  _ Don’t say that or I’ll fall for you even more.  _ \- “I can talk with Cheol about you and DK Ent. Jeonghan is a model under DK Ent., he probably can give us more information.” - Woozi said, paused for a while, debating whether or not he should continue his sentence, but then he said it anyway - “I don’t want you to have to deal with this alone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're entering the point where Soonyoung would have to establish his feelings for Woozi, and after that it would be the two of them trying to figure out the entire soulmate system, which is the problem I've been teasing and hinting at but never touched. I expect to finish this at around 15-20 chapters, so I guess we're almost half-way through =)))) 
> 
> I have a lot of shorts and oneshot that is queuing up and waiting to be published, so please give them a lot of love too =)) The more you guys commented the more I realized I've been creating problems and not fixing them, so I'll try my best to come up with the solutions for all of them lololol =)) I hope the resolution is satisfying tho, because I hate a rushed ending.


	10. A suggestion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “But people have been falling in love with each other even before the soulmate system appeared. They had no certainty that the person they’re with is their perfect match, but a lot of people still make it through together. So I don’t know Soonyoung, just think about it carefully.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last update of the week. yay.

After a lot of threatening from Mr. Lee himself and his constant reminders to Woozi about how he was disappointed and how he couldn’t be more like brothers, he finally let Woozi and Soonyoung go. Woozi told him that he would schedule a meeting with Seokmin, his cousin, and Jeonghan and would contact him later. Soonyoung nodded.

He didn’t pay much attention to what Woozi said, mostly because after he left the Lee mansion he felt like he just realized something. Something he couldn’t make sense of, but it was a feeling of revelation that kept flickering inside of him. He knew for sure that he could choose to walk away, but in the end, he wanted, he wanted so firmly, to be in this with Woozi, to not leave Woozi alone taking care of this mess. 

**[Horangi]**

Hyung, you free?

Can we talk about something?

**[Cheol]**

Yea, sure

My door is open

Come by whenever.

Soonyoung cautiously opened the door to Seungcheol’s apartment, the last thing he wanted was to see Jeonghan and Seungcheol making out again. Last time it gave him trauma for days. Seungcheol was just chilling on his couch, scrolling through the posts on SNS and typing furiously whenever he saw a post about Jihoon that he didn’t like. Soonyoung knocked softly on the opened door as Seungcheol turned around and saw Soonyoung, he immediately pouted. 

“You didn’t bring alcohol…” - Seungcheol whined, but Soonyoung knew he didn’t mean it. 

“Sorry, I came here immediately after I left Woozi’s father’s mansion.” - Soonyoung said half apologetically.

“You came to the old man Lee house? Did he chew you up and spit you out? Are you Soonyoung or just a ghost of Soonyoung?” - Seungcheol immediately put his phone down and started asking questions. Seungcheol met Mr. Lee once when he was twelve, he still has nightmares even in his 20s.

“He was… scary. But I survived” - Soonyoung chuckled at Seungcheol’s reaction. He stopped for a moment before he continued - “I’m sorry. If I didn’t insist on Woozi coming to The 1996, you wouldn’t be suspended.”

“Worry not, my beloved junior” - Soonyoung knew that Seungcheol was trying to lighten his mood - “I am fine, I’m graduating anyway so they wouldn't affect my scores anymore! I just have to do one make-up test for Rhyming 401 afterward and I’m out! Finally!”

“Yeah…” - Soonyoung quieted down, and the atmosphere soon became heavy again - “I wanted to ask you something… not ask, but like getting advice, but also ask because I have so many questions…”

“Soonyoung, rambling again” - Seungcheol cut him off - “Ask away, boy. I’m your personal consultant today.”

“How…” - Soonyoung sighed - “How do you know that Jeonghan is your soulmate? Like, except for the matching designated meeting time and soulmate system stuff?”

Seungcheol’s eyes widened. He looked at Soonyoung for a while as he collected his thoughts. That was an interesting question, and he didn’t even think of it until Soonyoung asked him today.

“So if you’re asking about feelings, I am not really clear about it either. I mean, we met at The 1996, and I always go to The 1996, well, went, it was a typical night-out like everyday. I didn’t even notice it was my designated meeting day. When I saw Jeonghan, I didn’t expect he would be my soulmate, you know. I just thought he looked really good, and I had a lot of urges…” - Soonyoung raised his eyebrows and got slapped playfully on the bicep by Seungcheol - “Not those urges. Urges to buy him a drink, to talk to him, to take him home, to hold his hand, things I don’t usually feel. But I wanted to do those things for him because whenever I look at him I feel like everything makes sense. Like the last couple of years of my life built up to that moment, the moment I met him. Everything just clicked, and I wanted to be with him, through every challenge, through life, I just know. Everything that I was reluctant to do, I suddenly have the courage to do it.”

Soonyoung fell into contemplation. He knew that he had been doing things that normally Soonyoung himself wouldn’t do. He wanted to stroke Woozi’s fluffy hair, he wanted to hug Woozi, even to the extent that he secretly planted a forehead kiss on Woozi when he was asleep. He wanted to stay by Woozi’s side through this mess, and he wanted to push himself into the spotlight, something he never thought he would do if it meant protecting Woozi from the public’s slanders. Even if Woozi wasn’t his soulmate. Soonyoung thought that one day he could do all those things to his soulmate, but at that very moment, he doubted that he would do the same to anyone else who wasn’t Woozi. He felt horrible for his soulmate, though. He didn’t think he could offer what he wanted to do now to Woozi to his soulmate, the one that he had been believing in since he was a kid, his definite choice, his correct choice. Yet, like every other time, Soonyoung was prone to make the opposite choice. Not a wrong one, but not the one that people expect from him.

“What if…” - Soonyoung finally spoke up - “What if I have those same wants to a person that is not my soulmate?”

“What wants? Holding hands and kissing?” - Seungcheol asked and Soonyoung nodded softly with uncertainty - “Well then it’s probably adoration, affection, or love. I mean, besides your lover, would you want to do those things to anyone else?”

“No…” - Soonyoung mumbled - “But what if my lover is not my soulmate?”

“Well…” - Seungcheol stopped. He had never expected that question. Like Soonyoung, he believed that the Soulmate system was definite. It was made to solve a problem, so it should be the resolution. He knew that people can fall in love, but the Soulmate system matched the two most compatible people together, so if you aren’t in love with the perfect match for you, then who would you be in love with? Maybe that was why people had been reliant on the system because there had never been a flaw in the way the system worked. But Soonyoung, he received two letters, he saw the system’s flaw, he saw a possibility that the system wasn’t definite - “I don’t think you can ask me that question, Soonyoung. You went from the number 1 believer in the system into a person who is questioning the system at this very moment. If there is someone who influenced you enough to change your belief in the Soulmate system, I think your choice is pretty clear already.” 

Soonyoung went quiet. He understood what Seungcheol was saying. He understood the influence that Woozi got on him ever since he entered his life. After that day they spent in the studio, Soonyoung felt like he wanted to get to know Woozi more. He wanted to see more of his cat-like smile, see more of how his eyelashes flutter when he smiles, see more of how he laughed at Soonyoung’s stupid jokes. He wanted to see more of Woozi, preferably everyday until he no longer can’t. 

“But if I choose another one, what would happen with my soulmate?” - Soonyoung asked, he still couldn’t shake off the guilt inside of him. It felt like cheating, even though he hadn’t met the person that he was cheating on yet. 

“That I don’t know, Soonyoung.” - Seungcheol shrugged - “You’ll have to ask someone who knows the system that question, maybe visit the Soulmate Office again, talk to a specialist.”

Soonyoung nodded sadly, he didn’t expect Seungcheol to know the answer to all of his questions right now, but he was glad he got some clarification. From his conversation with Seungcheol, he knew one thing, and one thing was definite. He wanted to do things that Seungcheol did to Jeonghan with Woozi. Holding hands, kisses, night talks, long drives, anything. 

“Hyung, can you drive me to the Soulmate Office?” 

\--  
  


“So you’re saying…” - Haeun, the Soulmate System Supervisor, asked in confusion - “That you think you want to be with someone else who is not your soulmate, two weeks before your designated meeting time?”

“No… Yes...I-” - Soonyoung sighed - “I am just asking if it is possible that I fell in love with someone else that is not my soulmate?”

“Soonyoung, I’m not supposed to tell you this, but you and your soulmate have the highest compatibility rate I’ve ever seen. You guys are perfect for each other! It is almost impossible that your lover is not your soulmate.”

Soonyoung’s eyes widened. He and his soulmate had the highest compatibility rate Haeun had ever seen. 

“Do you want to give your perfect match up?” - Haeun directed the question to Soonyoung - “If you walk away from this soulmate, and in the future you found out that the one you love and you aren’t the best matches, and you’ll fight, and you’ll have a lot of disagreement, you might even break up. You’ll get a divorce, gosh, I haven’t seen a divorce since the birth of the Soulmate System.”

“But a friend once said this, and I feel like it makes a lot of sense, a _soulmate is just a suggestion from the system. In the end, it’s your love and effort that keeps you two together_ ” - Soonyoung said - “You told me to trust my senses when I had to choose between two letters, but right now my senses are telling me that I want another person. So I wonder if it is possible to fall in love with someone who is not my soulmate? And if I am in love with someone else, what will happen to my soulmate?”

Haeun sat in her chair and stared at Soonyoung for a while. Her expression was cold, and her fingers were tapping anxiously on the wooden working desk in front of her. She had never seen a case like Soonyoung’s. First, he got two letters, he chose one that had the highest compatibility rate, and now he was in front of her, telling her that he wanted a third person. Yet, she admired the one who came and had so much of an impact of Soonyoung’s life that he was willing to consider giving up his soulmate.

“I don’t know. I have never seen it happen, I have no idea.” - Haeun shook her head - “Have you thought of a chance that your “lover” could meet their soulmate one day and realize they’re a better match with them? They’ll leave you, and you’ll be soulmate-less if that is even a word. Soonyoung, you’ll be lonely if that happens.”

Soonyoung sat there quietly, he wanted to say something back, but he didn’t know how to explain to Haeun that except for Woozi, he doubted that he could be this certain with anyone else. He had had trouble choosing his entire life, but Woozi was like his definite answer, not a right or wrong answer, but just an answer. He had felt it the moment he was at the Lee mansion, how he was willing to make a decision to stay with Woozi through this entire mess, how he was willing to find a way to get through this together, how he could’ve walked away but every atom on body chose to stay. How he was sure he wanted to stay, and he was sure that Woozi would be beside him through this. It was the urge that Seungcheol mentioned, the urge to trust someone even though you were unsure.

“You can just wait until your soulmate shows up. Then, if you still want to be with your lover, you can tell your soulmate that you don’t want to be with them. I don’t know the consequence of that but we’ll have to see since we cannot force you to be with someone you don’t want to be with. But remember Soonyoung, you must be sure that the one you love feels the same, because there is a chance they’ll run to their soulmate the very moment that person appears, and you’ll be heartbroken.” - Haeun said, but then she stopped and sighed - “But people have been falling in love with each other even before the soulmate system appeared. They had no certainty that the person they’re with is their perfect match, but a lot of people still make it through together. So I don’t know Soonyoung, just think about it carefully.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally it is a shift in Soonyoung's feelings. This is the beginning of Soonyoung and Jihoon trying to figure out the Soulmate System and how to work their relationship around it! From now on, a lot of questions will be answered, and when I re-read it I feel like the last couple of chapters were just all fillers, but it did help me to push Soonyoung to come to terms with his feelings =))) 
> 
> Also, I love this concept so much and I feel like I want to write more about this system for some other couples, so I'm thinking of expanding this world to give more room for it to develop, but again I lack both motivation and time lol so it's just a thought =))


	11. Someone'll love you, stranger!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soonyoung kept pacing back and forth in front of the Postal Box next to the Soulmate Office with a letter in his hand. Yes, he had finally decided to send his soulmate a letter, what he thought was supposed to be done a while ago. He only had less than two weeks until he would meet them, but he wanted to send this letter, he wanted that person to know what he wanted to do, and he wanted that person to understand him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stream Crow by JUN <3

Soonyoung kept pacing back and forth in front of the Postal Box next to the Soulmate Office with a letter in his hand. Yes, he had finally decided to send his soulmate a letter, what he thought was supposed to be done a while ago. He only had less than two weeks until he would meet them, but he wanted to send this letter, he wanted that person to know what he wanted to do, and he wanted that person to understand him. 

And maybe forgive him.

\-- 

**[Cheol]**

Hey, Ji is alr here.

Where are you?

**[Horangi]**

I’m coming

Stuck in traffic

**[Cheol]**

Soon, you take the train

**[Horangi]**

…

I’m picking out an outfit

I want to look good

**[Cheol]**

For the CEO 

Or for Woozi? 

^^

Soonyoung did not reply and Seungcheol let out a soft snicker in front of Jihoon, who was quickly finishing his Hazelnut Coffee with “extra” foam. Since Seokmin was his favorite cousin, and Jeonghan was one of the most valuable models of DK Ent., Jihoon managed to convince Lee Seokmin to meet them at Beanie Cafe. Seungcheol heard from Jeonghan that Beanie Cafe was actually owned by Seokmin’s soulmate, but he had never met the guy before. He only knew that his name was Joshua, and he came home from LA to escape an arranged position in his family’s company and a dull life.

“Why do you keep telling people that you don’t like extra foam, Jihoonie?” - Seungcheol sighed as he was looking at his childhood bestfriend trying to down his favorite drink as fast as he could before anyone came. 

“Because….” - Jihoon looked up with foam all over his face, he looked like a kitten who just finished its bowl of milk - “... Daniel said that I look childish and nobody wants to see foam on my face.”

“And you believe him?” - Seungcheol raised his eyebrows.

“No…” - Jihoon mumbled, but he took a deep breath before he nodded - “Yes… I mean, you know when you have someone talk bad about you and you act like you don’t care but actually you start to be more mindful about yourself? Well, Daniel is not even someone, I liked him for real, Seungcheol. So… I don’t know it just sticks with me. Please don’t judge.”

“No, I’m not going to judge.” - Seungcheol gave him an assuring smile. _Soonyoung would want to know though._ Seungcheol wanted to say that, but at that very moment the Cafe’s door opened, and a rushed Soonyoung dashed inside the building. Soonyoung was convinced that he was late. 

Seungcheol and Jihoon both could hear Soonyoung’s sigh of relief when he saw them sitting in their booth while the CEO and Jeonghan weren’t there yet. Soonyoung came over to Mingyu and placed his order, at one point he glanced back at Jihoon and turned back to Mingyu, furrowing his brows. Jihoon could see Hoshi laughing with Mingyu at one point as he began pouting unconsciously. Seungcheol saw the change in Jihoon’s expression and he smiled to himself, looking down to send a text to Jeonghan, asking where they were, hoping that the CEO and Jeonghan could come before Jihoon started to be jealous of Mingyu. 

“You know jealousy is not a good look on you” - Seungcheol commented - “And Mingyu is your friend as well.”

“I am not jealous” - Jihoon turned to Seungcheol, but he kept glancing over to the counter where Mingyu and Hoshi were still chatting excitedly.

“Then stop looking over there as if you want to kill both of them”

“This is how I usually look at people.” - Jihoon snapped back, he wanted to say something else but he stopped the very moment Soonyoung started walking over to them with two drinks on his hand.

Chocolate milk and latte. Soonyoung put the chocolate milk in front of Jihoon as he, this time more prepared, held his latte tighter. To Soonyoung’s surprise, this time Jihoon did not target his latte but silently sip on his chocolate milk. Seungcheol, on the other hand, looked at Jihoon as if aliens had just kidnapped his bestfriend and replaced him with a clone with a different personality. Seungcheol had been trying to get Jihoon to consume anything other than just caffeine, but he had been failing. Meanwhile, the Jihoon in front of him was jugging down chocolate milk like it was his only source of water and Seungcheol just couldn’t wrap his head around it.

Soonyoung jerked up as if he wanted to say something but then the door of the coffee shop once again flung open. The CEO, Lee Seokmin, walked in with two more people beside him. One was dressed him a black suit from head to toe, Jeon Wonwoo, DK Ent.’s main legal advisor, and one was dressed in more casual clothing, a white sweater and blue jeans, angelic-looking doe eyes man, Lee Seokmin’s personal assistant, and soulmate for life, Hong Jisoo. 

“Joshua” - Mingyu called out from behind the counter, and the man looked up, eyes went wide open, and ran toward Mingyu. 

“Don’t mind him, it’s been a while since he saw his favorite employee.” - Lee Seokmin shook his head and smiled. He had what Soonyoung’d liked to call a “sunny smile”, a smile that could light up the darkest room. It was warm, friendly, and totally opposite of what you would expect in a CEO of a multi-million entertainment company - “Hi, my name is Lee Seokmin.” - Seokmin held out his hand to offer a handshake with both Jihoon and Soonyoung, which Jihoon was quick to return, while Soonyoung felt like he was being judged by every single thing this man did. He felt small in front of this man. So even though he had a warm smile, his powerful aura was detectable, maybe that was why he was the CEO of DK Ent. He looked like he knew what he was doing, and he knew how to make others do what he wanted to do. 

“Hoshi” - Jihoon called - “Why are you spacing out?” - Soonyoung looked up to see Seokmin’s hand was still hanging in front of him, waiting for the handshake.

“Sorry” - Soonyoung said apologetically - “I was thinking.”

  
  
“Don’t worry” - Seokmin said - “Everyone gets a bit like that before they sign their big contract.” - He proceeded to sit down and nodded at Seungcheol, who was looking for Jeonghan but he was nowhere in sight. Meanwhile, Wonwoo, who must have been told by Lee Seokmin that he should order his drink before taking a seat, had made his move toward the counter and cut the conversation that Jisoo and Mingyu were having. Jisoo pouted as he made his way back to his soulmate, and it was then that Soonyoung realized Jisoo was the assistant that gave him the information about DK Ent. He was Mr. Lee’s assistant, the one who threatened Jihoon when Jihoon was taunting the Old Man. 

“You…” - Soonyoung said, and Jisoo immediately understood what he was so confused about. Jisoo only smiled as he took his seat next to his soulmate.

“Yes, I am Mr. Lee’s assistant from a couple of days ago.” - He said, his smile never left him - “I am also Seokmin’s personal assistant and owner of Beanie Cafe. I was just visiting Mr. Lee the other day when he asked me to help him since his personal assistant fainted due to overworking. I had no choice but to agree.”

Soonyoung connected the dots really fast and he finally understood why Jihoon spent a lot of his time in Beanie. Not only that it was the closest cafe to school, but it was also owned by the Lees, well, associatively. 

“No it’s because this one is the closest to Uni and my studio. I didn’t know that Joshua’s the owner until Christmas last year when Seokmin brought him home.” - Jihoon suddenly spoke, and Soonyoung’s eyes went wide open. Did he think out loud?

Seungcheol witnessed that exchange and made a mental note to himself to talk to Jihoon later. Seungcheol had been suspecting that Soonyoung was actually Jihoon’s soulmate, even though Jihoon kept reminding him of how different they were, including the different designated meeting times. Seungcheol couldn’t explain the different designated meeting time, but he could see that most of Jihoon and Soonyoung’s so-called “differences” could easily be explained or disregarded if those two weren’t so oblivious. 

What Seungcheol saw there was a display of soulmate hunches, which was rare and only happened to those who had high compatibility, like Seungcheol and Jeonghan. He freaked out one day when he started hearing Jeonghan’s concerns in his head, but he soon learned about the soulmate hunches, the faint, little voice of their soulmate that pops up randomly. Like its name, it’s just a hunch, so most of the time people don’t mind it much. He remembered the night Jihoon made Soonyoung’s song, it was the first day they met, but Jihoon already knew what he would do for Soonyoung. 

The discussion was pretty standard, Seokmin talked about all the policies and regulations that Soonyoung should follow, including social media posts limits and public appearances. They agreed that Jihoon would perform alongside Soonyoung at his Winter Festival in replacement for Seungcheol so that they could play Soonyoung and Jihoon’s appearances at The 1996 just a hang-out night after a practice of two friends working on a collaboration. Jihoon said that he would have to discuss with his publicist and manager, but Seokmin assured him that he would talk to Mr. Lee himself. With the right kind of convincing, Seokmin was really confident with going through with this plan. 

The only problem that Jihoon was scared of was that Jihoon couldn’t dance. It wasn’t like he never danced before, but he was never trained to be one. Soonyoung, on the other hand, was a skilled dancer, and his choreography was built for two experienced dancers, and Jihoon could never match with it. 

“What if I re-choreographed the entire number?” - Soonyoung said, and once again Jihoon asked if he was thinking out loud. Seungcheol noticed this time too but he couldn’t say anything as Soonyoung already continued - “I could do it tonight, it wouldn’t be too much. I can keep my parts the same, and reduce some of the harder steps for your parts.” 

“What?” - Jihoon asked as he was trying to process what Soonyoung was saying and why did he suddenly say it.

“Didn’t you just say that you’re scared that you’re not as skilled as I am?” - Soonyoung cocked his head in confusion. 

“No, I didn’t say anything…” - Jihoon mumbled - “Unless I just think out loud?”

“Huh…” - Soonyoung, still confused, decided to brush it off - “Maybe it’s because we’re musical soulmates.”

His face lit up as he saw that he brought out a smile on Jihoon’s face. 

The discussion went well, Seokmin did give both of them time to think, especially Soonyoung who would be signing a seven-year contract with DK Ent., which was a big decision. Seokmin was friendly, he had a charming aura that Soonyoung guessed he uses a lot to get what he wants. Seokmin left with Jisoo and Wonwoo, his legal advisor, who actually spent more time talking about how Jihoon could sue Daniel and his antis than explaining to Soonyoung about his contract. Jihoon didn’t want to go through with suing Daniel, but Soonyoung had a feeling that if he didn’t do it then, Daniel could come back and cause more trouble. Jihoon nodded in understanding, but he was still hesitant. Wonwoo told Jihoon to think more about it before excusing himself and followed Seokmin and Jisoo to their car. 

“I need to talk to you, Jihoon.” - Seungcheol said after Seokmin left, and Jihoon looked over to Soonyoung who was still reading the 20-page contract that Seokmin left him. Even though Seokmin was very detailed in explaining the contract, Soonyoung was looking at agreeing to be under someone’s control for seven years here. His career could start or fall apart the very moment he made his decision. And Jihoon knew Soonyoung wasn’t confident with his choices at all. 

_“Zi, if I were to make a horrible decision, would you still support me?”_ \- Soonyoung’s question from the time they were at Mr. Lee’s mansion echoed in his head, and Jihoon put his hand on Soonyoung’s hand from across the table. Soonyoung, who was focusing on the contract, got startled by the sudden action from Jihoon, but he didn’t flinch. He looked up to give Jihoon a smile before Seungcheol dragged Jihoon away. 

As Jihoon and Seungcheol left the cafe, Mingyu approached Soonyoung and sat down across from him. The boy looked worried and nervous, at the same time he looked like he was going to combust. 

“Soonyoung-hyung” - Mingyu called out to a thinking Soonyoung - “I think I just met my soulmate.”

\--

“I don’t think you’re hearing yourself, Cheol.” - Jihoon laughed out loud as he heard Seungcheol said that he thought Hoshi could be his soulmate - “Hoshi and I are too different to be soulmates.”

“Different how?” - Seungcheol asked, raising his eyebrows as if he was daring Jihoon to say something he couldn’t debunk.

“I don’t believe in soulmates, he does” - Jihoon said. 

“No, you just doubt the concept of soulmates, specifically the chances of having someone who understands you.” - Seungcheol said, and from Jihoon’s expression, Seungcheol knew he was at least partially right - “And Hoshi only believes the concept of soulmates because he was told to doubt his choices ever since he was born. Even this is a similarity between you two instead of a difference. You both have doubts about yourselves. You doubt someone could understand you, and Hoshi doubts his decisions.”

“I…” - Jihoon stuttered, Seungcheol was making a lot of sense and he didn’t like that. Well, he liked it a little bit, because he had wished that Hoshi was his soulmate. Yet, he wouldn’t want to get his hopes high, their meeting dates were different - “Then how did you explain the different meeting time?”

“That I can’t explain, maybe you will have to find out on your own.” - Seungcheol shrugged his shoulders - “But I saw what you did at Beanie, and what happened on the first day you met Soonyoung. You guys have that soulmate hunches, you guys communicate without having to listen to each other. You guys understand each other without the need for words. That is a soulmate hunch.”

“Or we just work really well together…” - Jihoon said and he could see Seungcheol dramatically rolled his eyes.

“Now you have to listen to yourself, Jihoon” - Seungcheol said sarcastically - “And what is it about you and Hoshi calling each other’s stage names and not real names?”

Before Jihoon could answer, a knock on his apartment door interrupted their talking session. A Soulmate System staff member was standing with a bag of letters, he politely greeted Jihoon and gave him a letter. A letter from his soulmate. 

_“Hi to you, stranger._

_I wish I could love you, I really do. I wanted to love you, and I’ve waited for you my entire life. I am sorry I didn’t write you a letter. I thought I would scare you with my clumsy use of words._

_I am sorry that the only time I’ll write to you is to tell you that I am in love with someone else, and I think I love him too much to offer you the same love. I know it is unfair for you. I know it is my fault. But I think you should know. I know that you may be heartbroken, that you may be sad after reading this, and I wish I could be there to hold your hand, to give you a kiss, to chase your tears away, but I can’t think of doing that with anyone else that is not the person I love right now._

_I hope there will be someone who will love you as much as I wanted to love you._

_I am so sorry for leaving you alone in this world. I am that type of bad guy in those dramas, and I will spend the rest of my life thinking about how I hurt you. It will forever be my biggest regret._

_For now,_

_Someone’ll love you, stranger!”_

“Wow…” - Jihoon took a deep breath before he shakingly said - “See, Cheol? I was right. The soulmate system sucks, the concept of soulmate is stupid, and nobody could love me. I doubt even Hoshi could."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not angst I promise.  
> I am too soft for angst.  
> I am only 5 chapters away (hopefully) from finishing this. It wasn't meant to be a long one in the beginning, but I have a long one coming up really soon :D  
> I just hope I could resolve everything because I'm forgetting the small details at the start of the story so I'm kinda scared I'll miss something =)) please comment if you see a plothole, it'll be very appreciated.


	12. I believe you are lovable, I love you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He remembered Seungcheol’s words, about how that was a display of soulmate hunches but he chose to discard it. It hurt less if Hoshi wasn’t his soulmate. Then he’d be losing to who was destined to be with Hoshi rather than losing Hoshi to someone else even if he was destined for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I have no idea how I got an intended-to-be fluff fic into this but... huh :/

“Don’t say it like that, Ji” - Seungcheol, heartbroken for his friend, moved forward to offer Jihoon a hug, to which he denied and asked Seungcheol to leave.

“Cheol, please, not now.” - Jihoon sighed - “I can’t deal with your Hoshi is my soulmate agenda, because it’ll only hurt more if it’s him who sends me the letter.” - Seungcheol was about to say something, but Jihoon was already pushing him out of his room - “It’s already bad enough that I can’t have him, it’s worse if I can’t even have him even if he’s my soulmate. My soulmate is clearly in love with someone else, it’s fine, he’s a stranger. But I have feelings for Hoshi, Cheol! I have feelings for him and he’s in love with someone else. It hurts a lot. He’s not a stranger.”

“Ji…” - Jihoon closed the door before Seungcheol could finish his sentence, and Seungcheol could only sigh in defeat as he took out his phone and sent a text to Jeonghan, telling him that Jihoon was upset and it was better to not disturb him today.

  
  


Jihoon took care of the matters regarding his collaboration with Soonyoung quite fast, as two days later the company and Woozi’s official website had already published the information on Hoshi x Woozi collaboration series, starting with the performance at Soonyoung’s university’s Winter Festival. They would be performing an original song written by Woozi, a song with satisfying choreography as the website described, and Soonyoung could only shake his head at the constant messages and notifications from friends, families, and even strangers congratulating him on the powerful debut.

But then Soonyoung realized that he started to have to deal with paparazzi. He was just on his way to Woozi’s studio to meet up and discuss the alterations in their song before he could start choreographing the performance when he was stopped by a strange man wearing a giant camera. He kept asking questions about his relationship with Woozi, and how he could score a collaboration with Woozi when he was just an ordinary student if it wasn’t for them having some kind of special relationship? It was to the point that Soonyoung got very irritated as he fled the man by running across the crowded street, trying his best to avoid cars and motorcycles.

“You look like a mess, Hyung.” - Mingyu commented as he opened the studio door, Jihoon wasn’t in his studio. Mingyu was there to deliver Jihoon’s coffee, and Soonyoung frowned at Mingyu - “And Ji-hyung told me that if I meet you I’d tell you that he’s out getting some snacks.”

“Got chased by paparazzi'' - Soonyoung sighed as he put his backpack down - “And you stop indulging Jihoon’s cravings for coffee. Next time you deliver him hot chocolate, got me?”

“Hyung, I seriously don’t know who I’m more scared of now, Ji-hyung or you.” - Mingyu shrugged as he gave Soonyoung Jihoon’s coffee and said goodbye real quick.

Soonyoung took a peek into Jihoon’s order and immediately put it down to chase after Mingyu, who he assumed got Jihoon’s coffee wrong since this one was filled with cream foam. However, Mingyu had already left the building, and Soonyoung couldn’t catch up to him, so he returned and contemplated removing the cream foam layer from Jihoon’s coffee. He tried to look for a spoon so he could layer it out, but he was in a dance studio, of course, he couldn’t find any spoon, so, Kwon Soonyoung dived in and started drinking the top foam layer of Jihoon’s coffee. 

Just then, Jihoon opened the door to the studio and saw that Kwon Soonyoung, his supposed-to-be dance teacher, was sipping on his coffee. 

“Are you drinking my coffee, Kwon?” - Jihoon asked as he furrowed his brows. 

Soonyoung looked up and saw an on-the-verge-of-being-angry Jihoon looking back at him, glaring at the coffee on his hand.

“I can explain” - Soonyoung said quickly - “Mingyu messed up your order, this one has cream foam in it and you hate cream foam so I guess I want to… get rid of the cream for you?”

Jihoon was standing there, shaking, and Soonyoung thought that Jihoon was genuinely getting angry until he heard a loud laugh Jihoon. The boy was laughing so much he could barely stand and bent over, leaving Soonyoung very confused. It took a while until Jihoon finally stopped laughing and walked over to Soonyoung, taking the coffee cup away from him. 

“I am fine with foam, Soonyoung. It’s not like I’m allergic to it or something, it’s just I don’t like drinking it in front of anyone else.” - Jihoon said.

Jihoon had spent the last five days locking himself in his studio, writing songs after songs after songs so that he could get rid of the heavy feelings that were piling up in his heart. He wanted to hate his soulmate so much for sending him a letter like that just merely two weeks before their meeting times. He tried to convince himself that he wasn’t unlovable, it was that he kept believing in whatever his inner demons were telling him. Yet, in his overflowing sadness, a voice came to him. 

_ “I believe you are lovable.” _

Someone whom he couldn’t name believed that he was lovable, and that person’s belief was so important to him that everytime he was drowned by his negative thoughts, that voice came back and reminded him that he was lovable, that someone believed that he was lovable. Furthermore, he felt like he could feel the touch of that person’s lips on his forehead, faintly, but he wasn’t able to tell if it was a dream or it was from a piece of memory he couldn’t make clear of. 

“Hey, you okay?” - Soonyoung noticed that Jihoon was zoning out so he called out to Jihoon, who startled and almost dropped his coffee. Jihoon blinked a couple of times before he came back to reality. 

“Yea, I’m okay.” - Jihoon nodded softly.

“I heard from Cheol that you’ve spent the last couple of days locked in your studio, are you overworking yourself again?” - Soonyoung asked, his voice showed a tint of concern and that alone made Jihoon’s heart fluttered. 

“No, it’s not overworking if I actually enjoy the work.” - Jihoon said and immediately he was cut off by Soonyoung who showed a very annoyed expression. 

“It’s overworking if you don’t eat, drink and rest properly.” - Soonyoung said, eying the snack packages on the table and on the floor. He assumed that was all Woozi ate for the last couple of days. He stopped for a while when he saw that Woozi’s expression showed a tint of guilt - “Okay, that’s it, we’re going home, and you’re going to rest! And not your home, my home.” 

“What? Why? My house is just fine, Hosh.” - Jihoon raised his brows, irritated. 

“You have a personal studio in your house. You’d just move your work there” - Soonyoung shrugged - “No, you’re coming to my place! I’m isolating you from music.”

“You can’t do that!” - Jihoon shook his head, clearly convincing himself that Hoshi was just kidding. 

“No, pick that bag up, we’re going!” - Soonyoung said as he already walked out of the door. 

Jihoon had no other choice but to follow even though he didn’t want to. Every moment spent with Hoshi he’d fall deeper, and until one day it’d be actually hurt if he had to let him go. He’d wanted to make this meeting as fast as possible, and then he’d go back to dealing with the overwhelming feeling of brokenness in his own shadow.

Yet, he followed Hoshi, because there was always something inside of him urging him to trust Hoshi, unconditionally. 

“I hope you don’t mind that we're taking the trains.” - Soonyoung smiled before he led Jihoon to the nearby underground station. 

The station was crammed with people, everyone was rushing, minding their own business, unaware that Jihoon, one of the most popular artists then, was walking among them. Jihoon, in his twenty years living on this Earth, had never experienced riding the subway. He knew it was his privilege to never have to squeeze himself into the crowd of people in rush hour, yet he longed for an experience like this. For the first time, he felt like he was ordinary. It was new to him, and he was scared, even scared was an understatement at best. However, everytime he looked up, Hoshi was right in front of him. His broad shoulders and his strong back gave Jihoon comfort that he could never be lost as long as he still had his eyes on Hoshi. 

“You okay?” - Hoshi turned back every once in a while to check on Jihoon. Jihoon nodded softly and Soonyoung smiled warmly - “Don’t worry, as long as you can still see me, I’ll protect you.”

_ “I believe you are lovable.” _

Jihoon’s eyes went wide as the voice once again returned to his mind. He didn’t know where it came from, he didn’t know what triggered it, but just like what Hoshi said, it gave him a sense of calm and put him at ease. 

The ride to Soonyoung’s place was long, approximately forty-five minutes from his studio. Jihoon suddenly realized all those times Hoshi wanted to come over to his place just to comfort him, just to talk to him and just to be around him, he had to take a lot of time just to be in his company. And there was that night when Hoshi took him home in the middle of the night and left for class the first thing in the morning. 

Jihoon, as he was contemplating what if he bought Hoshi a car of his own, was pulled out of his contemplation as Hoshi finally said it was his station. 

“You take the train to my place all the time?” - Jihoon asked as they exited the train station. 

“No, if I’m at Uni then it’s closer.” - He said as he smiled - “It’s like a five minutes walk from your studio to my building. But yea it’s a long ride, I know. But it’s worth it.”

Jihoon convinced himself that he was imagining because what Hoshi just said sounded too much like he was flirting and he didn’t want to fall for that. He didn’t want to be broken again. 

“You okay, Zi?” - Soonyoung asked again as he could clearly see that Jihoon was blushing - “You seem strange today, are you sick?”   
  


“No, I’m good. It’s just, I’m thinking about a song.” - Jihoon tried his best to think of the best excuse he could. 

“Oh, the songs for your next album?” - Soonyoung asked as he led Jihoon toward his dorm, he swiftly swiped the keycard and pushed the door open, holding it open for Jihoon. 

“Yeah” - Jihoon shrugged and Soonyoung accepted that excuse before Jihoon thought of something - “You want to listen to it?” 

“If you want me to, I will. But you don’t have to, I’ll listen to it the very moment it comes out.” - Soonyoung smiled, and he pushed the elevator button, 5th floor. 

“I kind of want to.” - _ It’s about you anyways. _

“Sure, then just let me settle down, make us some tea and I’ll give it a listen.” - Soonyoung said, opening his room’s door. He thanked his lucky star that his introverted self decided to spend more on a single room, he wouldn’t want to share his moment with Woozi with anyone else. 

Jihoon nodded as he positioned himself on the couch in Soonyoung’s room. Soonyoung immediately went to the kitchen and placed the kettle on the stove, rustling through the cupboard to search for his tea box, and let out a happy hum when he found that he still had enough for the both of them. 

Jihoon looked around. The place was small but cozy. It was a studio apartment, and Soonyoung’s bed was positioned a little bit further back, next to the big window. Suddenly, he found the bomber he gave Hoshi was hung perfectly next to his closet, it looked like Hoshi got it cleaned and had never worn it since that night at The 1996. 

“Ah, I didn’t want to wear it since it was too expensive and I don’t have anything that really goes with it.” - Hoshi emerged from his kitchen, saying, and Jihoon had to wonder if he just thought out loud again. 

He remembered Seungcheol’s words, about how that was a display of soulmate hunches but he chose to discard it. It hurt less if Hoshi wasn’t his soulmate. Then he’d be losing to who was destined to be with Hoshi rather than losing Hoshi to someone else even if he was destined for him. 

He hummed in understanding, and Soonyoung offered him his warm cup of tea. Jihoon took it from Soonyoung’s hand, and for a moment there, Jihoon’s hand touched Soonyoung’s.

_ “I believe you are lovable, I love you”  _

The voice. But this time, it was longer, and he could hear a faint “I love you” at the end. Jihoon made a mental note to ask Seungcheol about this, because he had never had such an experience before, and he believed that was not simply his imagination anymore.

“You’re zoning out again, Zi.” - Soonyoung said as he noticed the blank look at Jihoon’s face. Jihoon shook his head, blaming his lack of sleep for his haziness, and luckily, once again, Hoshi believed him.

Jihoon tried to change the subject quickly, so he played the song he wrote for Hoshi.  _ I Wish _ . Hoshi didn’t say anything, but he hummed after he finished listening.

“I feel like this is not about Daniel.” - He said after a moment of silence.

“Yeah, because it’s about someone else.” - Jihoon nodded, he felt a weird satisfaction when Hoshi was able to tell the difference. After all, he wanted Hoshi to know this song was about him, but he didn’t want Hoshi to think he was just jumping from one source of emotion to another.  _ He didn’t want Hoshi to think that he was using Hoshi to write songs. _

“It’s sad though, an unrequited love?” - Soonyoung asked, and Jihoon nodded.

“Yeah, because we all know at this point” - Jihoon said sarcastically, mocking himself and his love-life - “Nobody loves me.”

“Incorrect.” - Hoshi immediately snapped - “I believe you are lovable, I love you.” - Jihoon’s eyes opened wide at what Soonyoung just said, it was exactly what his voice was telling him a moment ago. But then Hoshi added - “Cheol loves you, Mingyu loves you. Your future soulmate loves you.”

_ My future soulmate doesn’t love me. _ Jihoon wanted to say that, but he decided it was better that he didn’t. After all, he didn’t want Hoshi to pity him, he didn’t want Hoshi to try to make him happier because he would fall deeper in love with Hoshi if he ever did so. He wanted to get this collaboration out of the way, to get to his birthday party, to see Hoshi find his soulmate and to accept the fact that he could never have somebody who loves him.

Yet, he didn’t know, in Hoshi’s drawer next to his bed, Hoshi prepared a silver bracelet printed with both their names as a gift for his birthday. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no explanation for what just happened above, I wanted it to be Soonyoung x Jihoon's bonding time but it took an unexpected turn as I was writing it so... 
> 
> And it's so weird how it's only 2 weeks away (well minus 5 days Jihoon locked himself in the studio) from their performance day and none of them practiced =))))) They will start next soon and we'll get to see Soonyoung taking care of Jihoon when he's tired yay =)) Before that, I'll throw out a bonus on Soonyoung's side for this chapter so that we'll see what those voices mean (hint: it’s not a fantasy detail of the fic but it actually happens to real-life soulmates + a lil bit of exaggeration) 
> 
> Also, guess who will confess first =))))) 
> 
> Anw, Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate it <3


	13. The Rest of Your Lives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “No you’re not.” - Soonyoung said, but he said it with a soft tone as if he was trying to calm Woozi down - “You’re not over him and it’ll take longer than you think, since he hurt you so much. However, it is okay to be hurt, you’re just human, and you don’t have to take it all in by yourself.” - Soonyoung reached out for Woozi’s hand - “You’ll get over him one day, but you’ll have me along on the journey, okay? Reach out for me when you need help. Whenever, I’m a patient guy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, thank you for waiting and I'll proof-read when I'm done with the entire thing

Soonyoung went back from mailing his letter at the Soulmate Office, much to Haeun’s surprise, she agreed to put his letter into the system so that it could be sent away anyway. Soonyoung thanked her as he left the building feeling like a horrible rock had been lifted off his chest. 

As he walked down the street toward the subway station, he noticed a jewelry store displaying a new type of bracelet on their window. As he listened to the saleswoman introduced to him that the bracelet was a permanent type, meaning that if he wears it, he won’t be able to take it off unless he uses something to cut it off. Soonyoung nodded in understanding, and he didn’t even have to think twice before he asked if they could customize a pair of the same silver bracelets for him. The saleswoman was ecstatic when she heard him and immediately nodded, Soonyoung left his phone number at the store before he left. 

_ “Please, I’m not unlovable” -  _ Soonyoung suddenly heard Woozi’s voice in his head when he was on the train back to his place. It wasn’t the first time he heard Woozi’s voice and this particular sentence. He heard it the first time when he just finished mailing the letter, and he immediately thought in his head that he believed that Woozi could be loved. 

This time, he thought the same. He didn’t know where these voices came from, and he didn’t know how or why they came at those particular moments. It didn’t happen before. He made a mental note to ask someone about this. The worst thing that could happen was that he got a wrong wire somewhere in his head and it was making him hear things out of nowhere. 

The next time he heard the voice was two days later when he heard Seungcheol telling Jeonghan about Woozi locking himself in the studio once again. Soonyoung didn’t know if he should visit, but he suddenly got a horrible headache afterward which got him to have to stay at home the entire day. Seungcheol came over to check on Soonyoung and his headache, but it wasn’t getting any better, so Seungcheol said if the next morning Soonyoung wasn’t feeling any better then they’d go to a doctor. 

That night, he had a horrible dream. 

Woozi was crying, he was calling out for help from afar, but the more Soonyoung moved toward Woozi, the further he was. He couldn’t do anything except standing there and watched as Woozi was slowly losing himself. 

“No, I believe that you are lovable.” - He mumbled, and he could see Woozi looking toward him. Suddenly, he could move closer to Woozi, closer and closer until they reached the staff room in The 1996 once again, where Woozi was in his embrace, snoozing off while Soonyoung pressed a soft kiss on his forehead. 

Soonyoung opened his eyes in the morning feeling worse than the day before. His headache was even more irritating, and Woozi’s voice came and went randomly throughout his day. He had no choice but to call Seungcheol, who immediately came over with food and drinks as well as painkiller before taking him to the hospital for a check-up. 

He couldn’t believe the first thing he heard the doctor asked was whether or not he had a soulmate yet. He said that he wouldn’t be meeting his soulmate until later that month, and the doctor frowned. He showed Soonyoung all the tests he had Soonyoung took earlier, and nothing came out wrong. 

“So the only other explanation that seems plausible is that your soulmate is in distress and is calling out to you unconsciously.” - The doctor said as he put away all the test results - “When our soulmate experiences a powerful emotional response to any situation or thought, the high energy vibrations that are evoked within them can overflow and pass to us via the spiritual connection we share. Often, when our soulmate experiences intense feelings of grief, loss or heartbreak, we are made privy to those via this connection.” - He gave Soonyoung a feel minute before he could process everything before he continued - “If you guys have a really high compatibility, then the connection is even stronger, and you could reach the point where you can use your soulmate hunches to communicate with each other.”

Soonyoung wanted to agree with what the doctor was saying, but he couldn’t understand why it was Woozi who came into his thoughts and mind instead of his soulmate. He wanted to ask the doctor if he might have been thinking of a person who wasn’t his soulmate, but the doctor denied the possibility of that happening.

“Because unless you guys have a deeper connection than fate itself, then it seems almost impossible.” 

\--

Back to Jihoon and Soonyoung in Soonyoung’s apartment, Jihoon was sitting on the sofa watching TV, enjoying his first day off since forever under the supervision of Soonyoung while Soonyoung was cooking in the kitchen. Soonyoung was planning to ask whether or not the past couple of days Woozi had any distress that was bothering him emotionally, so much that he unconsciously called out for his soulmate, but Soonyoung couldn’t think of a way to phrase the question properly. 

“What are you making?” - Soonyoung didn’t notice that while he was thinking of how he could ask if anything happened to Woozi recently, Woozi himself tip-toed into the kitchen and looked over his shoulder to see what he was stir-frying in the pan.

“Kimchi fried rice” - It was all Soonyoung could answer and Woozi hummed in understanding. He moved to his cupboard and took out two bowls, setting them on the table. He then moved to the fridge to see if there was anything they could drink while eating.

It seemed so domestic that for a moment Soonyoung could see himself living like that everyday for the rest of his life. With him and Woozi working together not only in music but in housework as well, as he wished that they could share a house.

A home.

Soonyoung soon shook the idea out of his head, it was too early to conclude that Woozi was his soulmate, even though all the doctor said and everything that had been happening until then all pointed to one person and one person in his life only. Nevertheless, he still couldn’t explain the different meeting times, Seungcheol couldn’t as well. So until he had every point checked out, he wouldn’t go ahead of himself and tell Woozi, for he could be giving Woozi a false hope. 

Yet, if the chances that he was Woozi’s soulmate, then he knew perfectly why Woozi was in distress. He could’ve hurt him by sending the letter.

_ Way to go, Soonyoung. Once again you’ve made a dumb choice. _

“You know…” - Woozi spoke up after Soonyoung turned off the stove - “Wonwoo sent in a complaint to the police to keep Daniel away.” - Soonyoung nodded in understanding - “But he called me the other day.”

“What?” - Soonyoung almost dropped the pan on the way bringing it over to the table - “When? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Tuesday’s night, at 2 AM” - Woozi said. Soonyoung immediately frowned, it was the night when he had that weird dream about Woozi. If what the doctor said was true, Woozi must have been hurt. 

“Do not think to believe anything that jerk says.” - Soonyoung said firmly and Woozi’s eyes went wide for a moment, but then he chuckled. 

“He said a lot of mean things, I almost believed it.” - _ If it wasn’t for you _ . But Jihoon decided not to finish the sentence. 

Soonyoung could feel a faint headache, but unlike the other times, it was only there for a second before it settled down. Soonyoung looked at Woozi, did Woozi just have a bad thought? 

“Hey, are you okay?” - Soonyoung said without thinking, and he didn’t have time to regret asking before Woozi busted out laughing loudly. 

“Why so sentimental today? I’m alright, Daniel is a jerk, and I’m over him now. For good.” - Woozi said, but Soonyoung shook his head as he knew that if Woozi was really okay and over Daniel, then he wouldn’t have been hurt that much. Too much that he had to reach out for help subconsciously. 

“No you’re not.” - Soonyoung said, but he said it with a soft tone as if he was trying to calm Woozi down - “You’re not over him and it’ll take longer than you think since he hurt you so much. However, it is okay to be hurt, you’re just human, and you don’t have to take it all in by yourself.” - Soonyoung reached out for Woozi’s hand - “You’ll get over him one day, but you’ll have me along on the journey, okay? Reach out to me when you need help. Whenever. I’m a patient guy.”

“Why are you so sentimental today? Huh?” - Woozi complained, but he didn’t mean it as he took Soonyoung’s hand as well. 

“I just feel like it.” - Soonyoung shrugged as he tried to lighten the atmosphere, but he could feel Woozi’s heart fluttering inside of him. Or was it his own heart?

“Stop being corny and let’s eat, Hosh.” - Woozi laughed softly. It was getting harder for him to not fall for Hoshi now, but he didn’t mind anymore. 

Maybe his soulmate’s rejection was a good thing, it gave him the liberty to be with Hoshi. Screw Seungcheol and his Hoshi being Woozi’s soulmate agenda. Jihoon’s soulmate hurt him, but Hoshi could never, so how could they be the same person? 

But even so, how could Hoshi love him the way he’d love his soulmate?

\-- 

**[Soonyoung]**

Daniel Kim?

It’s Soonyoung

I want to talk.

**[Daniel]**

How did you get my number?

What?

Did Jihoon dump you too?

And now you’re running to me crying huh?

**[Soonyoung]**

Shut it

Don’t give me another reason to beat your face

Horangi Studio on 5th, 5 PM

We’ll talk alright.

  
  


Soonyoung called Seungcheol and told him about the meeting with Daniel, and Seungcheol insisted that he come along, so Soonyoung had no choice but to bring him along. Soonyoung knew that Seungcheol wanted to beat the hell out of this jerk as much as he did. 

“If we have to do any fighting, I’ll do it.” - Seungcheol said as they were walking to the studio for the meet-up. - “I’m already suspended, and you have a performance with Ji.”

Daniel’s car was parked in front of the studio as they arrived. Seungcheol, being the more mindful one, noticed that there was another person waiting in the car, and there were several paparazzis around. They both immediately understood Daniel’s plan, to rile Soonyoung up and initiate a fight so that he could be caught causing trouble, hindering the upcoming collaboration.

Seungcheol nodded as if he was reassuring Soonyoung that he would do anything to stop Soonyoung from getting riled up by that manipulative jerk. 

“So he finally left you, huh?” - Daniel said as soon as he saw Soonyoung - “I told you, I warned you, didn’t I?’

“Shut it, Daniel!” - Soonyoung said coldly - “Listen, you will leave Woozi alone.” 

“Woozi? You guys still call each other by stage names?” - Daniel smirked arrogantly - “Not that close with each other, I see.”

That took Soonyoung by surprise. He didn’t realize that Woozi and he had been friends for more than two weeks now, they even went to each other’s places, but they never asked each other’s real names. In contrast with what Daniel said, they were actually so comfortable with each other’s presence in their lives that they felt like they didn’t need a proper introduction. 

“I said shut it!” - Soonyoung growled - “You leave him alone, and do not contact him ever again?”   
  


“Aw” - Daniel mimicked a sad expression - “But the other day when I called him, he even cried saying that he loved me.”

He said what? 

“Stop lying, Daniel.” - Soonyoung shook his head - “Stop this and stop playing with his emotion. We both know that you’re the manipulator here.” - Soonyoung continued before Daniel could spill anymore lie - “He loved you and you knew it, that was how you got him to help you get those model contracts, that was how you got those CFs and MVs gigs. You knew it, Daniel, and you used him.”

“It was mutual, he got the materials for his chart-topping songs.” 

“He didn’t need it.” - Soonyoung smiled confidently - “He wrote a new song, and it wasn’t about you! He didn’t need you anymore, so stop obsessing with him. He wrote a song on his own, and it was just as good.”

“I know Woozi, Soonyoung.” - Daniel said - “He can’t write without a source of emotion. If it’s not about me, then it could be about you, Soonyoung. I told you, he’ll milk out the emotion he has with the people around you. And you won’t get any credit when he earns millions selling that song.”

“And I don’t need that stupid credit.” - Soonyoung raised his voice.

“Wait until he dumps you when you no longer can give him anything.”

“Shut up, Daniel!” - Soonyoung was losing his patience - “You dumped him! You broke his heart! You did it on your own. Stop trying to change the narrative, you’re so caught up in your lies that you begin to believe them yourself. Give yourself a break, Daniel, it’s not that great playing the bad guy.”

“And it’s not that great playing the fake boyfriend for someone you could never have.” - Daniel said - “Ask Woozi who did he write that song for, the new one. You’ll understand me.”

“Even if it’s for me” - Soonyoung cut him off - “Then it’d be my honor.” - Daniel smirked mockingly and tried to leave, but Soonyoung stopped him - “Never contact Woozi again, never speak of him again, never look for him again.”

“Or?” - Daniel scoff, but Soonyoung gave him a hard slap on the cheek. Soonyoung knew if he punched Daniel, it would leave a wound that allowed Daniel to twist it into a sob story online. A slap couldn’t leave that much of a mark, but it was still painful, so he was not being merciful, he was trying to protect Woozi from being the main character in Daniel’s made-up story again.

“Or I don’t mind not debuting. They say I make bad choices, but it’s never a bad choice to beat your face.” 

**[Woozi]**

Hey you’re taking too long to reply

I’m going home

See you at the studio tmr!

**[Hoshi]**

No, wait

I’m near

I’ll take you home.

It took a while before Woozi could reply with an “ok”, but Soonyoung knew that it was a happy “ok” because he could feel Woozi’s butterflies in his stomach as well. He could feel Woozi’s smile as well. 

“So you’ll tell Ji?” - Seungcheol asked - “About you being his soulmate?”

“Not yet.” - Soonyoung answered - “Not before I make sure that he’s no longer hurt. I don’t want him to be with me just because he believes I’m his soulmate and I can magically make all of his pain and sadness disappear. I want to heal him.”

“But doesn’t not telling him will make him think that you don’t want him?” - Seungcheol asked.

“If I’m not patient, he will be disappointed that being in a relationship with me couldn’t heal him the way he wanted his soulmate to. I know it’s the longer way, but we have to walk this path if we want to be together for the rest of our lives.”

“The rest of your lives” - Seungcheol laughed at the statement - “You really had it all planned out, huh?”

“I have.” - Soonyoung nodded contently and rushed Seungcheol to walk faster because he didn’t want Woozi to wait for long. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I just once again make it possibly longer than I planned? I did.
> 
> Did I regret it? No. Because I feel like Woozi/Jihoon needs this healing before he can commit to a relationship with Soonyoung, and now that he felt like he could freely be with Soonyoung, it'll be easier for him to heal as well. I wanted them to be together, but Jihoon's broken, it would be unhealthy to jump into a relationship just because you believe that you can be magically healed by that person. Jihoon needs to trust Soonyoung more. 
> 
> I was ranting but yea that's my take on this, comment if you see any inconsistency or plothole. Scream at me in the comment or on my Twitter @alxhayz 
> 
> I have the source for soulmates reaching out for help when in distress, it's real! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading I love every single one of you. If you can please check out my other works I’m a fluffy & soft writer 😃


	14. Am I A Bad Choice?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You are the best choice I’ve ever made.” - Soonyoung let the words slip out of his tongue, but this time he didn’t regret it. He wanted Woozi to know how much he treasured Woozi and his important existence in Soonyoung’s life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I came back after a week of catching up with WandaVision and all of its theories.

Jihoon showed up to practice the day after, ready to go through the Hell that was called “Dancing”. Jihoon adored dancing when he was in middle school, so don’t get him wrong, but he could only do the basics. Hoshi, on the other hand, people needed to see him move. He had amazing body control, wonderful agility, unmatchable stamina and not to mention, the way his body rolled.

Jihoon got scolded for losing focus for the fifth time of the day. It wasn’t his fault, he wanted to blame Soonyoung for being so good at dancing, but he couldn’t because he knew that he should work hard, too, especially since they wasted the last two weeks dealing with Daniel and whatever happened. Hoshi had changed the choreography up a little bit, picking the kids from Seungcheol’s class to be their backup dancers so that he could lessen the burden for Jihoon. Jihoon didn’t have to do anything for the first verse and he’d only join in during the pre-chorus and the chorus dance, yet it didn’t mean that Soonyoung would lower the quality of the performance. 

Finally, Jihoon understood why Seungcheol texted him Goodluck before he departed for the practice that morning. 

Hoshi was a monster in the studio. He demanded that every hand movement, every step must follow a certain measurement that got Jihoon all confused at first. However, Jihoon considered himself a stubborn person, so all he did was suck it up and quickly caught up with Hoshi, even though he knew that his body would be all sore that night. 

“You’re tired?” - Hoshi approached him during their break. - “We could take the day off now. I covered all the basics, and you’re catching up real quick.” 

“Nope” - Jihoon stubbornly shook his head - “I could still go a couple more times.” 

“If you’re tired, tell me okay?” - Soonyoung said as he patted on Jihoon’s sweaty but fluffy hair, chuckled to himself when he could feel Jihoon’s blushing before clicking the remote control for the music to start playing again. 

Lee Jihoon, who never left his studio since his twelfth birthday, couldn’t believe he danced for five hours straight. He couldn’t believe how he could be so immersed in the music that he didn’t notice the time that went by. It wasn’t until his phone rang loudly from his backpack that he noticed that the sun had already set from the studio’s window. He mumbled a soft encouragement for himself and walked toward his backpack to get his phone. Soonyoung also snapped out of his routine when Jihoon’s phone rang, and he turned down the music so that Jihoon could pick up his phone. 

“Hey. I think we should call it a day.” - Hoshi said as Jihoon hung up from his call. It was anything serious, it was just his agent calling him to remind him that he had a shooting tomorrow morning and that he should get enough sleep so that the makeup artist stopped complaining about wasting time covering his dark lines. - “You want to grab dinner together? I’ll pay. There is this new place just across your studio and it serves amazing Chinese food.”

Did Hoshi just ask him out for dinner? Like, just the two of them? They had gone out for coffee before, and Jihoon spent time in Hoshi's apartment, for an entire day. So no, Jihoon didn’t know why this time he got butterflies in his stomach after Hoshi asked him out for dinner. They were so familiar with each other this shouldn’t be something he should panic about anymore. 

“Yes, it’s a date.” - Soonyoung said as he quietly laughed inside since he could feel Jihoon obviously fluttering about this invitation. It was cute, Soonyoung admitted to himself. 

“You’re paying so I’m going.” - Jihoon said as he grabbed his backpack, his jacket and rushed out of the studio’s door before Hoshi could see him getting redder than a lobster. 

  
  


“So you’re saying, you left your house when you were 14?” - Jihoon, who was very interested in the story that Hoshi was telling, laughed so hard he could feel the jjajangmyeon coming up to his nose - “And you did it because you thought that your parents didn’t want you to pursue dance?”

“It’s not that funny, Zi.” - Soonyoung said, but he giggled along with Woozi’s laughter - “But yeah. My parents told me I had to choose between dancing and Taekwondo and I thought they were implying that I have to take Taekwondo, so I hopped on the bus with only 15,000 won I saved for breakfast and left.” 

“And how did your parents find you?” - Woozi said, slurping a sip from his Coke bottle, which Hoshi recently learned that Woozi loved so much. 

“They went wild.” - Hoshi said, adding the hand gestures - “They called the police, my grandparents, my aunts, my uncles, their neighbors. Imagine being only 14 years old and got the entire town looking for you.”

The place where Soonyoung took Jihoon to was a small hole-in-the-wall style of restaurant. It was clean, neat, had around ten tables and several seats at the back in booth-style. The owner was an old auntie who spoke very broken Korean but loved to tell stories, so they listened to her telling them about how she followed the love of her life to Korea only to find out that the man was married, she couldn’t go back home because she was scared and forty years later, she opened this restaurant. She couldn’t finish her story before one of her employees, who was also her nephew, called her away, but Soonyoung knew the full story, and it was she opened this restaurant so that lovers could find each other. The special dish on the menu was the Korean man’s favorite dish that she learned how to make just for him, and they promised a restaurant in Korea together. Soonyoung knew this place was famous for lovers, and he did not hesitate to bring Woozi here on what he perceived as their “first date”.

“I must admit.” - Jihoon broke the silence and looked up from his chicken legs - “I want a life like yours. To be able to do what you want, to run away whenever you want.”

“And get caught and grounded.” - Soonyoung reminded Woozi of the consequence of his action, and Woozi laughed softly. 

“Yeah, but you still have an adventure story to tell.” - Jihoon said - “I only have sad love stories and family issues.” - Jihoon took a deep breath before he started telling his story. 

Jihoon was born in a family of music geniuses, and he inherited his talents from both his mother and his father. However, his father believed that Jihoon owed him everything for giving Jihoon his talent and a career since he was young. So on his twelfth birthday, instead of getting toys like other children, he got his first studio. His father paid millions to invite a famous producer from Japan to teach him how to work the machines and the sound systems, and maybe it was because of his talents, or maybe he just wanted to rush through everything to get it done before he lost his sanity, he learned really fast. By fifteen he had already released his first single and was pushed into the life of zero privacy since then. He had always been a pawn in others’ games, and he started to believe that no one would pay attention to him if he wasn’t beneficial to them. 

Soonyoung could feel that Jihoon was upset as he was telling his own story. So he waved a waiter over and ordered some more food that he knew he couldn’t finish and would have to pack it up, but he wanted to cut Woozi’s train of thoughts before Woozi got himself in a distressed state again. 

“I want your life, Woozi.” - Soonyoung said after he gave the menu back to the waiter - “Everything is already planned out, and I wouldn’t be scared to make wrong choices anymore.”

“You’re not scared of making wrong choices.” - Woozi shook his head - “You’ve been told that you make wrong choices by the people around you ever since you were young, and young kids are the most easily to be impressed type of human, so gradually you believed that. All of your choices made you the Hoshi of today, there would be no dancer Hoshi if you didn’t choose to give up Taekwondo because you didn’t want to get your head shaved. There would be no collaborating-with-Woozi-Lee Hoshi if you didn’t come to meet me and demanded me to change a song for your style.”

Soonyoung’s eyes opened wide with surprise as he let every word Woozi said to sink into him. It was a perspective that he never thought of because he was so sure that every choice he made would end badly since people kept saying that to him ever since he was little. So, he never thought that his fear was only because he was told to believe it by everyone around him. 

“Think about it, am I a bad choice?” - Woozi suddenly asked, and Soonyoung was flustered. 

Woozi was not a bad choice. Woozi had always been his right choice. Ever since he chose the letter at the Soulmate Office. Soonyoung chose to bring Woozi to The 1996, and even though it ended with Woozi being distressed and harassed by his ex-boyfriend, Soonyoung learned more about Woozi than ever, and he learned that the man in front of him should be protected, and he chose to protect Woozi, to stand by him through the rumors that Daniel made. He chose to debut so that he could get Woozi out of the mess Daniel created, and he did it with confidence because he chose to trust Woozi would always be beside him even in his worst times. Even when he chose to send the letter to his soulmate, which turned out to be Woozi, was not a wrong choice as he could confidently say at that very moment when Woozi was jugging on his Coke bottle across from him. The letter gave Soonyoung a chance to be presented in Woozi’s life as Kwon Soonyoung, as Hoshi, not as Woozi’s soulmate and someone Woozi believed he had to love in order to be better. He got to be him in front of Woozi, and whether or not Woozi liked him back, it would be because of Soonyoung’s charm, how he could bring Woozi out of his insecurities and the ability to give Woozi all the love he could, not a forced relationship created by machines and systems. 

“You are the best choice I’ve ever made.” - Soonyoung let the words slip out of his tongue, but this time he didn’t regret it. He wanted Woozi to know how much he treasured Woozi and his important existence in Soonyoung’s life. 

Before Woozi could react to that statement, they heard flashing sounds from outside of the restaurants, and one paparazzi even stormed into the place and started pointing their big cameras at them. Woozi muttered a curse word under his breath as he grabbed Soonyoung’s wrist and dashed out of the restaurant, yelling that he would pay for the meal tomorrow to the owner before the both of them disappeared at the corner of the street. 

They both ran, and ran, and ran until they reached Woozi’s studio. He quickly unlocked the door and the both of them, both covered in sweat and panting due to the excessive rush of adrenaline, collapsed on the couch in Woozi’s studio. It took a while for them to process what they just did, and how much of a scandal it would be the next morning before they both busted out laughing like little kids. The only thing on Jihoon’s mind back then was to get them out of the cameras’ lenses, but running away from paparazzi and not paying for their meals could be a bigger story. He laughed at how he acted, and how he was overwhelmed by adrenaline and excitement when he did it. 

“Now I have an adventure story to tell.” - He said and both of them continued with their laughing fit. 

Jihoon looked over to the person laughing next to him. He had always been the quiet one, with a quiet life he hated. He always felt like he was a bird trapped in a cage, and he believed that he would end this life living in complete imprisonment by his own family and the path he chose. What he told Hoshi inside the restaurant, about how Hoshi was only scared of making choices because he was told to make wrong choices since he was young, Jihoon believed it himself, too. He started to think whether or not his fear of being hurt was formed because he had always been hurt since he was little, and he believed whatever hurt him was because he was lacking something, and he deserved to be hurt as a life lesson. It wasn’t. No one deserved to be treated like how Daniel treated him, like how his dad treated him, and it wasn’t until Hoshi came into his life that he knew that he could be treated with care as everyone else. 

Jihoon sent a soft apology to whoever was Hoshi’s soulmate in the future because he wouldn’t let Hoshi go without a fight now. 

“I meant it when I said you’re the best choice I’ve ever made.” - Hoshi suddenly said when he was deep in his thoughts - “You will know what I mean one day, but for now please believe me that everything I said about you is the truth.” - Soonyoung stopped for a while before he continued - “I want to be more than friends with you, but at this point, I couldn’t. You know it yourself, that we are still just learning about each other, and ourselves.” - Jihoon nodded, he understood what Hoshi was saying, and he knew that Hoshi was right. Soonyoung said once again - “You know how we never knew each other’s real names? Now, I want it to be a trust checkpoint for us. When one of us feels like we can trust the other with everything, and we’re ready to take the next step with each other, we’ll tell each other our real names. Is that okay?”

“What about your soulmate?” - Jihoon asked, and Soonyoung only smiled. 

“Trust me this time, I’m not the type to play around with you for two weeks and leave you.” - Hoshi smiled as he moved forward and pressed a kiss on Jihoon’s forehead. 

Jihoon immediately let the question go. Even if he still had his doubt, he wanted to be with Hoshi, and nothing could change that. So instead of overthinking, he wanted to be the one to trust Hoshi this time. Even if it could only two weeks, he was willing to trust him, because unlike everyone else, Hoshi wouldn't hurt him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor baby =((( I know it's a chapter of fluff but it was a bit sad in the end how Jihoon now trusts Hoshi because he expected that Hoshi would never hurt him. This is just the start of the process of them learning to trust and fix each other's broken parts and themselves, finally, after all of what happened before that TvT I'm sorry it took too long for them, and this is me trying to fix the mess I created before that. I did the previous chapters without proper planning so now I have to clean up the messes huhu but I think I can pull this off :D after all, this is only my first English fic =))) 
> 
> Kay, as usual, do not hesitate to comment if you see plotholes (there will always be some kind of plotholes, big or small along the way) or inconsistency or inaccuracy or anything, please, you'll be very appreciated. I won't yell at you or anything, I'll even blow you a virtual kiss =)))
> 
> or comment because you simply want to scream at me for promising to be a fluff writer but it makes you feel sad hehe 
> 
> also shameless plug: please support For I'll Love You Until Eternity because that one is so much better planned and I did a lot of research on that haha

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reaching the end of this. It'll be a while until the next chapter but idk I'll see how my schedule goes.  
> Go visit me on Twitter: @alxhayz  
> I probably update or ask you guys how you want the story to happen!


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